- How the need for physical contact, anonymous freedom and community gives rise to new models of together-ness and autonomy in festivals, free cultural spaces, communities, and tribes

We go to festivals, more than ever. Commercial, cultural, alternative, spiritual or tribal, everybody can find something of his or her liking, for a day, a weekend or longer. Festivalization is not only an economic activity, it's a social and psychological phenomenon that seems to compensate for the lack of physical contact and privacy in modern life.

Humans like to be together, to celebrate, experience, feel happy. Intentional communities, parties and festivals make us feel connected, tolerant and inclined to share. There is a need to escape to pe to places and events where the 'normality' is 'shelved' in a 'temporary autonomous zone'.

This book deals with the roots, background and mechanisms of what is now a global trend, turning into an industry and the favorite of urban policy-makers. Cities are competing to become the global FestiValley competence center.

Festivals fit in with the experience economy and eventification of society, they also offer anchor points for an expanded identity of the festival-goers, the new tribalism. They offer entertainment, culture, meaning and identification, and the more alternative events are a platform for personal and social transformation. Festivals are hotbeds for change, they influence our personal states of mind, but also bring new ideas, innovation and help change our worlview.