IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/urbpla/v11y2026a11659.html

Leveraging a Street Festival for Lasting Transformation in a UNESCO World Heritage Neighbourhood

Author

Listed:
  • Corina Regales

    (Faculty of Engineering, University of Curaçao Dr. Moises da Costa Gomez, Curaçao)

  • Ilja Simons

    (Academy for Leisure & Events, Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands)

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how a temporary cultural event has impacted the repositioning of a neighbourhood and led to urban revitalisation. The analysis is based on the Kaya Kaya street festival, a private bottom‐up initiative in Otrobanda, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Willemstad, Curaçao. By temporarily using vacant (historic) properties and underutilised public spaces to host cultural activities, Kaya Kaya has played a key role in positioning the neighbourhood as an attractive and artistic place. Drawing on interviews and theories on temporary use, the economic impact of cultural events, and bottom‐up initiatives, the study analyses how the event has shaped experiences, perceptions, and actions that have led to long‐lasting impacts on the neighbourhood. It demonstrates that although events have a temporary nature, they can generate multiple long‐lasting social, economic, and physical values that create new opportunities for their surroundings. Short‐term event impacts are easy to quantify, but longer‐lasting urban effects before and after are often overlooked by property owners, developers, investors, and policymakers. This case study aims to contribute to wider research on urban strategies by offering insights into how events as temporary use can be strategically leveraged to revitalise historic neighbourhoods while addressing benefits, risks, and limitations.

Suggested Citation

  • Corina Regales & Ilja Simons, 2026. "Leveraging a Street Festival for Lasting Transformation in a UNESCO World Heritage Neighbourhood," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v11:y:2026:a:11659
    DOI: 10.17645/up.11659
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/11659
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/up.11659?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesca Bragaglia & Nadia Caruso, 2022. "Temporary uses: a new form of inclusive urban regeneration or a tool for neoliberal policy?," Urban Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 194-214, March.
    2. Stefano Di Vita, 2022. "Cultural events and heritage policy for the Milan Expo 2015: experimental intersections between mega-event and city," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 499-513, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maren Larsen, 2025. "‘Peace-kept’ urbanism: Ephemerality and endurance in eastern DRC," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(11), pages 2293-2308, August.
    2. Violante Torre, 2024. "Re-learning culture in cities beyond the West," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(13), pages 2531-2547, October.
    3. Finsterwalder, Jörg & Chen, Ning (Chris) & Hall, C. Michael & Prayag, Girish & Tombs, Alastair, 2024. "Transformative places and the citizenship experience: A dynamic perspective of disasters, transitional servicescapes, and place attachment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Marco Rossitti & Alessandra Oppio & Francesca Torrieri & Marta Dell’Ovo, 2023. "Tactical Urbanism Interventions for the Urban Environment: Which Economic Impacts?," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-25, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v11:y:2026:a:11659. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.