Pre-Event Destination Development: Exploring Relationships between Placemaking and Place Management

Keywords: Regeneration, Major-Events, Resident Perspectives, Resilience, Resistance, Mixed Methods
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 25

Abstract

Placemaking and place management are important research areas guiding destination development. While ‘management’ concerns strategy and enhancing activities, ‘making’ influences social experiences. Conceptual assumptions suggest relationships exist, but no empirical evidence supports these claims. A mixed methods exploratory sequential design approach first explores informative pre-event content to seek latent meanings and situate background narrative for interpreting relationships and influence between place management themes and placemaking. Next, emerged indicators became survey questions for the subsequent quantitative analysis. Exploratory Factor Analysis then provided clearer statistical dimensions (comparable to qualitative interpretations). Confirmatory Factor Analysis reduced factor indicators and Structural Equation Modeling identified significant relationships, with influence in both directions. Research implications are guided by resistance and resilience theory. Significant relationships advocate residents are resilient of change, but low descriptive place management findings suggest residents resist management indicators. Practical implications call for integrative placemaking considerations with management decisions to enhance local support, combat resistance, and increase engagement.