Atmospheres of belonging? Exploring ambient power through Manchester’s craft beer festivals

Steadman, C. and de Jong, A. (2022) Atmospheres of belonging? Exploring ambient power through Manchester’s craft beer festivals. In: Smith, A., Osborn, G. and Quinn, B. (eds.) Festivals and the City: The Contested Geographies of Urban Events. University of Westminster Press: London, pp. 111-128. ISBN 9781914386442 (doi: 10.16997/book64)

Abstract

This chapter explores how craft beer festivals in Manchester, UK, are made and unmade through atmospheres, in ways that inform, and are informed by, a broader urban politics of belonging. We are witnessing the atmospherisa-tion of places (Thibaud 2014), with ambiences increasingly engineered within urban regeneration schemes to render cities attractive on the ‘global catwalk’ (Degen 2003). Indeed, for Thrift (2004, 57), cities are ‘roiling maelstroms of affect’, which can be ‘forged into economic weapons’ (ibid, 58). Cultural festi-vals are increasingly used in cities’ regeneration efforts (Finkel and Platt 2020) and are thus crucial generators of the atmospheres flowing across our cities. This includes craft beer festivals, the focus of this chapter, which have become part of Manchester’s cultural-led regeneration (de Jong and Steadman 2021); constructing the urban landscape as creative, innovative and experiential to attract visitors, residents and investors.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: de Jong, Dr Anna
• Authors: Steadman, C., and de Jong, A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Interdisciplinary Studies
• Publisher: University of Westminster Press
• ISBN: 9781914386442

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