Leisure, Activism, and the Animation of the Urban Environment

This book brings together chapters that address questions of leisure, activism, and the animation of urban environments. The authors share research that explores the meaning and making of activist practices, events of dissent, and the arts in everyday life. Situated in a growing body of activist scholarship and social justice research, within the field of leisure studies, the contributions spotlight understandings and disruptions of public spaces in cities. These range from overtly political practices such as protest marches to recreational practices such as skateboarding and bicycling that remake cities through their contestations of space. Across the collection the chapters raise broader questions of civil society, whether it is research on youth activism, historical uses of public spaces by rightwing or racist groups, or interrogating the absence of leisure and closure of public spaces for people

experiencing homelessness. Some chapters explore events, such as festivals as sites of resistance and social change. In others, grassroots neighbourhood activism through arts is centralised, or mega-events are framed through protest campaigns against bids to host the Summer Olympic Games. A central thread running through the chapters is the question of whose voices count and whose remain unheard in events of dissent in the city.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Leisure Studies.

Ian R. Lamond is Senior Lecturer in Event Studies at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Ian’s primary research interests are in events of dissent, leisure activism, and creative forms of protest, though he has also worked in the fields of fandom studies, death studies, and political communication. His most recent book, Death and Events: International Perspectives on Events that Mark the End of Life (Routledge, 2022) considers the intersection between event studies and death studies, and he was a guest editor, with Karl Spracklen, of a recent issue of the Journal of Fandom Studies (2020).

Brett Lashua is Lecturer in Sociology of the Media and Education at University College London, UK. Brett’s interdisciplinary research spans cultural sociology, youth leisure, popular culture, and media studies, underpinned by interests in cultural histories and cultural geographies.

Chelsea Reid is Part-Time Lecturer in the Leeds School of Arts at Leeds Beckett University, UK, who currently teaches across postgraduate music courses in skills development and research. Chelsea has previously taught in the broad areas of media and journalism at an undergraduate level. Her research interests include political communication, mediatisation, and the portrayal of North Korea within Western media.