Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Large scale events have historically been ignored by those involved in the sustainability debate. However there is growing realization that major events can have significant environmental and socio-economic impacts and opportunities. This has been highlighted by the global growth of a phenomenon which has become known as event greening. The hosting of a major event like the Olympic Games comes with benefits and problems to the host city or region. The question is can the benefits be maximised and the problems minimised? This thesis shows that events can be hosted in a manner that contributes positively to the host city and limits the negative impacts, by incorporating principles of sustainable development with in the event management plan. This is known as event greening. Managing an event in a way that minimizes negative impacts and maximizes positive impacts produces results that are true reflections of success of a major event (GoJ Report, 2003). Event greening has been evolving since the early 1990’s and has arguable reached a point where absolute definition and standardisation is required to ensure its authenticity and integrity into the future. As the practice of event greening programmes occurs more and more so the need for a benchmarking tool to ascertain true measurable all encompassing impacts of events becomes more essential. The use of a Sustainability Rating System was employed as a way of measuring the percentage sustainability an event greening project or programme is actually achieving. This system was developed as a way of determining whether event greening is in fact contributing to sustainable development or is it another attempt at perceived sustainability best practice known as green washing. A selection of event greening projects is measured according to the Sustainability Rating System and the results show event greening is progressively contributing to global sustainable development best practice. This thesis also suggests that event greening is evolving into a sophisticated mechanism for implementing sustainable development best practice through mega- events. This research is a prelude to developing an assessment tool and a standard for event greening. The use of the Sustainability Rating System in this thesis and the discussed results propose this method as an adequate rudimentary tool which can be used to assess in a broad way the extent of sustainability of an event greening programme. This method and the information in this thesis are intended to be used as a first step in the development of an industry event greening measuring and evaluating standard or tool. It is intended that this thesis will act as a catalyst for further research and development into standards, benchmarking and possibly even certification processes for event greening.

Sustainably managed music festivals have significant value and can provide a multitude of benefits to a healthy, sustainable and desirable society if their negative impacts are mitigated and positive impacts cultivated. To reach this great potential, sustainable event management of music festivals must become widely adopted and expanded as common practice. To drive this improvement of sustainable event management, there is a need to first understand the barriers and success factors event organizers face moving their music festivals toward sustainability. This study uses a research design of mixed quantitative-qualitative methods: a survey of thirty diverse music festival organizers across the United States and interviews with five selected survey participants. Research draws on pertinent literature from sustainability theory and practice, previous research on sustainable event management, existing strategies of sustainable events, and lessons from organizational change studies. Findings revealed seven key barriers and four success factors associated with sustainable event management of music festivals as well as three specific needs of event organizers to improve sustainable event management. With these findings, seven strategies are presented to help event organizers adopt and improve sustainable event management of music festivals. This study is significant because it fills an important gap in the academic literature on events and sustainability. Additionally, this study is immediately applicable to Untied States music festivals. The findings were drawn directly from the perspectives and experiences of event organizers, and the strategies are designed to be specifically applied to their sustainable event management work.

Les événements urbains festifs (EUF) s'imposent non seulement comme de nouvelles pratiques sociales, mais aussi en tant qu'action urbaine et objet d'analyse de la recherche urbaine. Ils agissent sur l'espace public suivant des logiques distinctes éphémères, cycliques, immatérielles des actions urbaines « traditionnelles » et des modalités actuelles de gestion de tels espaces. Aussi, cette recherche vise à appréhender si les logiques de gestion des EUF ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives pour la gestion des espaces publics. Pour répondre à ce questionnement, le cadre théorique de la « Gestion de site » a été mobilisé. Ce dernier décrit et permet d'appréhender les modalités de gestion de quatre sites urbains (gares multimodales, centres-villes, centres commerciaux, résidences privées avec services) complexes (du point de vue de la coexistence de fonctions, de services urbains, d'usages et d'intérêts sectoriels, spécifiques), permanents, de natures distinctes et proposant des ambiances particulières à leurs usagers.Il est apparu que ce cadre théorique permettait bien d'appréhender les modalités de gestion d'autres sites urbains aussi complexes que ceux analysés par la « Gestion de site », et pourtant de nature éphémères : les sites de déroulement des EUF. Ce cadre théorique a donc été confronté à deux EUF se déroulant sur des sites éphémères : « Bordeaux-fête-le-vin » et les « Rendez-vous de l'Erdre » à Nantes. Ce choix est motivé principalement par le fait que ces EUF sont mis en place précisément sur des sites composés par une série d'espaces publics dont la gestion quotidienne et événementielle est complexe : les « espaces publics fluviaux ». L'analyse de la gestion de ces deux EUF par le prisme de la « Gestion de site » met en évidence des enseignements sur la gestion de l'événementiel qui, d'une part, nourrissent la réflexion autour de la gestion des espaces publics complexes et, d'autre part, enrichissent la « Gestion de site » en apportant des éléments inédits à ce cadre théorique nouveau / Festive urban events (EUF) stand out not only as new social practices, but also as urban actions providing a basis for urban research. Compared to "traditional" urban actions and current methods of public space management, Festive urban events in public spaces follow different dynamics ; they are ephemeral, cyclic, and immaterial. This research examines the management implications of Festive urban events and attempts to determine if these events' dynamics can unlock new perspectives for public space management.To answer our research enquiries, a Management of site (GS) theoretical framework is used. This theoretical framework describes and addresses the common management methods of four urban sites : multimodal rail stations, downtown areas, shopping malls, and private residences with services. These four site types are complexes, incorporating the coexistence of multiple urban functions and services, varied practices and interacting sector-based interests. These site types are permanent and offer a unique ambiance to their users. It appeared early on that a Management of site framework also allows describing the management methods of another kind of urban site, ephemeral nature, which seems as complex as those previously analyzed by this theoretical framework: the ephemeral sites in which Festive urban events are held. The Management of site framework was therefore examined with two different Festive urban events taking place in an ephemeral site : Bordeaux-fête-le-vin in the city of Bordeaux and the Rendez-vous de l'Erdre in the city of Nantes. This choice was made largely because these Festive urban events are held in ephemeral sites comprised of a number of different yet interacting components that require complex management : riverbank public places. The analysis of management methods of both these Festive urban events through the prism of the Management of site framework provides substantial insight into special event management. This insight enhances our understanding of complex public space manag ement and enriches the Management of site framework by introducing new analysis criteria

By conducting a field survey to collect and investigate the attributes and behaviour patterns of participants in the case event, the proposed model and simulation system were implemented. Three scenarios of different populations of involved agents were simulated on the finished system according to the sample data. Simulation results were analyzed and compared to the observed data. The simulation system was found to be capable of reproducing compatible dynamics of pedestrian flows. / Finally the conclusions of this thesis study were presented. / In order to implement the model, the layered behavioural simulation model was proposed for putting the decisions made from the behaviour model into action. By identifying the three layers sustaining the routing procedure at their respective levels, the evacuation route was finally converted to selecting stepping cells from adjacent neighbours. In this way a quick way-finding process can be achieved toward the ultimate destination, so that the global objectives are coordinated with local action decisions on the cell scale. With this simulation model, the framework of the geo-referenced agent-based system was proposed with technical details presented. This system was built directly on a GIS base and thus was able to conduct simulation in a real space environment and perform advanced GIS analysis inside the simulation. / In reviewing the existing evacuation models and simulation systems, it was found that although there have been remarkable advances in reproducing and analyzing many phenomena and the dynamics of pedestrian flow in evacuations, social psychological factors were not well considered. Theories and research in the social psychological field have indicated that these factors are essential in evacuation behaviour. Therefore the author examined the socio-economic factors relating to psychological responses through a literature review and explored the potential for integrating such factors into the agent based modelling approach. / Inspired by such concerns, the author proposed the individual cognitive behaviour model consisting of the Personalized Spatial Cognitive Road Network, which represents the diverse individual spatial knowledge of recognizable roads, and the Multiple Routing Strategies which incorporated individual preferences in selecting routing strategy. The proposed model follows the principle that pedestrians are considered to be composed of heterogeneous individuals, thus each pedestrian could have his or her own knowledge base and rules of behaviour. Two steps in constructing each component were presented respectively, with an integrated framework presented in the context of agent based modelling. / Public safety has become more and more important nowadays as tragic incidents, such as the 9/11 World Trading Centre attack, have caused a large number of causalities. It is critical to improve the capability of the security department for safely managing the crowd in response to an emergency. Conventional techniques investigating evacuation dynamics, such as the sand-box game utilized by Hong Kong police department preparing evacuation plans for the case event, are generally inadequate for providing sufficient support to crowd management. Enhancing the management practice by computer based simulation techniques has been attracting an increasing amount of research interests recently, as it can offer timely decision making assistance in changing situations compared to the conventional approaches. / Wu, Lei. / Advisers: Hui Lin; Bo Huang; Yee Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 249-273). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.