Driving the Circular Economy through Cultural Heritage: An Integrative Framework for Indonesian Green Festivals

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_51How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Circular Economy; Cultural Heritage; Green Festivals; Sustainable Event Management; Indonesia

Abstract

Recently, there has been growing expectation that festivals will reduce their environmental footprint; however, the sociocultural conditions that enable the implementation of a circular economy in the context of such events have not yet been adequately addressed in theoretical terms, particularly in developing countries. This study focuses on cultural heritage that supports the implementation and legitimacy of circular practices especially in the eco-friendly festival in Indonesia. This research uses qualitative methods with the method of comparative analysis of 4 cases of festivals that are believed to represent the types of festival organization in Indonesia based on the theory of institutions and socio-cultural attachment, namely: BaliSpirit Festival, Joyland, Jazz Gunung, and Trail of the Kings. This research analysis is based on documentary evidence on local economic participation, involvement of cultural element, environment friendly practices, community engagement, mobility management and festival governance mechanisms. The findings show that cultural heritage is used as a means to develop legitimacy that underpins projects to implement sustainability based on collective identity, locally significant ethical systems and place-based values rather than solely a branding capital or thematic content. This validity effect strengthens the trust of all stakeholders and can encourage the involvement of all people involved in the festival to implement circular practices, such as using local raw material sources, minimising waste consumption, reusing available materials, using renewable energy, and community-based management. However, there are still several obstacles that hinder the implementation of circular practices in green festivals in Indonesia, namely fragmented institutional governance, cost pressure, uneven environmental literacy, and reliance on limited infrastructure.. Based on these findings, this study proposes a framework for a culturally embedded circular festival that links cultural heritage, legitimacy, stakeholder participation, circular operations, and regional sustainability outcomes. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable event management by demonstrating that the circular transition in a festival context is not merely a technical challenge related to resource efficiency, but also a cultural and institutional process shaped by meaning, legitimacy, and relational coordination.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mahadewi Mahadewi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - Driving the Circular Economy through Cultural Heritage: An Integrative Framework for Indonesian Green Festivals
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Vocational Education, Applied Science and Technology (ICVEAST 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 692
EP  - 705
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_51
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_51
ID  - Mahadewi2026
ER  -