ABSTRACT

The chapter illustrates how the major property developers building Master-Planned Communities (MPCs) in Australia are using community events as part of their community and place building strategies. Master-Planned Communities, large-scale private housing developments on the urban fringes of major cities, have become an established form of placemaking in Australia. These MPCs, while being sold as ready-made lifestyles and communities, are in fact exemplars of only one particular notion of community and place, arguably one created by developers simply to sell houses. The construction of these narratives, part of place branding, serves to underscore the importance placed on the notion of community and place by these property developers, as well as the intrinsic appeal that such notions have for potential residents.

However, in order for places to be meaningful, social relations between humans must take place: indeed, places are continually constituted by social relations. Festivals and events can offer an opportunity to facilitate these social relations. Events and festivals offer tangible and intangible experiences than connect people to place and can help to connect people with other people.

Imposing particular narratives of place and community on a development does not automatically result in any particular fixed state of place or community. Indeed, place and community are multifaceted, complex and constantly evolving. However, events and festivals offer an opportunity to contribute to the organic development of sense of place and can play a role in the ongoing development of place and community in these emerging places-to-be.