Rural communities face a range of negative developments that continue causing the disappearance of remote village communities and the weakening of rural social structures on a global scale. The negative trends of ongoing depopulation and increased urbanisation, fuelled by the rapid and fundamental climate, social and cultural changes therefore threaten to destruct cultural traditions that have been transferred from generation to generation. But it took us a pandemic and global climate crisis to raise attention back to the roots of nature, reflected in the global pursuit of sustainability to ask ourselves whether rural is the new urban also when it comes to placemaking?

It is a term you see pop up in strategic plans, policy documents and in education more and more: placemaking. Will it be the new ‘buzzword’ of the 2020s, or is there more beyond this flashy concept? At the Future of Leisure conference last March, it was one of the central themes, and it already has a prominent place within education. How does the Academy for Leisure & Events make sure that placemaking has a meaningful and practical application within our programmes? This article shows how and why we give placemaking a ‘place’ in our leisure curricula. 

Experience has long been at the centre of cultural and leisure offerings. In the 1990s, it was firmly put on the agenda by Pine and Gilmore. Recently, there has been increasing talk of the transition from the “Experience Economy” to a “Transformation Economy”. That’s quite significant, from experience to impact, because as we will argue later, transformation is seen in the literature as the strongest form of impact. The concept of impact is high on the research agenda in the cultural sector. In this article, we describe some theoretical principles and explain how to measure experience and impact. We do this on the basis of a study we are currently conducting for the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem.

Several Leisure & Events students give their views on the future of leisure. T They tell why they chose this study, which trends inspire them, the biggest challenges for leisure and their role in it.

As our society evolves, so does our understanding of sustainability and its interplay with Leisure & Events. This complex relationship was spotlighted as one of the focus areas during the Future of Leisure Conference. Showing us the potential for a world where leisure not only coexists but thrives alongside sustainable practices.

If you open your eyes, you see the cracks; if you listen, you hear the squeaking and creaking: nitrogen, loneliness, food banks, energy prices, working conditions, gender inequality. The old doesn't seem to work anymore. Old, mostly white, men and women talk on TV. Politicians speak in circles. Scientists say things must change. 'The world is falling apart,’ a cry of urgency to those who want to hear and those who do not. It is clear that things have to change, but how?

It is 2040 and there are no waste bins on the streets, and there is no litter in sight. Nothing goes to waste, food leftovers become compost, and packaging materials are valuable resources. The circular economy is alive, nature is being restored, the water flowing in our rivers is crystalline, the air we breathe is clean, and the climate is balanced. Too good to be true? 

There is a growing awareness of the social impact of leisure. In companies, governments, social enterprises and in leisure science itself, both in terms of an object of study and a task: the 2014 Butler lecture, for example, made recommendations for leisure scientists to boost social impact and help society understand and address social challenges.

Creating real-life experiences with a purpose is the domain of the event manager. Developers and organisers of B-to-C and B-to-B trade fairs also invest heavily in the 'total experience' and pull out all the stops to stimulate the visitor's senses. We are in the middle of the experience economy in both public and corporate events: visitors want meaningful experiences that are felt on an emotional level. All kinds of touchpoints are orchestrated to make the trade fair concept a unique and personalised experience. It is no longer just about the live encounters. Increasingly, crossovers between real-life and virtual experiences are being developed. Technological innovations combined with globalisation and the emergence of a 'hyper-connected world' have pushed developments even further in this direction. Event organisers are increasingly asking themselves what their core business is: is it creating experiences for visitors or generating meaning for people or society? This is also the case at Jaarbeurs Utrecht. This article examines the Bouwbeurs (International Building and Construction trade fair), Jaarbeurs Utrecht's own trade fair title, as a case study. This is done on the basis of the results of a fourth-year project group of BUas' Strategic Event Management minor in combination with the vision of Concept Developer Camille Janssen of Royal Jaarbeurs Utrecht.