Structural Researcher
Erasmus University

Trackmaker | Co-creating the future of leisure time: A case study of Pasar

Eva De Smedt holds a PhD in Media and Communication Studies and is a structural researcher at the ‘Applied Futures Research – Open Time’ Knowledge Centre of the Erasmus University College in Brussels. She is affiliated to the bachelor degree’s programme in Tourism and Recreation Management at the same institution. Her research interests include futures studies, discourse studies, journalism, tourism, and leisure.

Privatisation, individualisation, a demand-driven economy, digitalisation, urbanisation, multiculturalism and sustainability: these are just a few of the major tendencies that frame, shape and guide our society and everyday life. This study takes this ever-changing context as a framework and opportunity for analysing one crucial aspect upon which these tendencies tend to bear: the future of leisure time. The study sets out to examine the changing meaning of leisure time in the future, and anticipate how the professional field could respond to these changes. To concretise this twofold research objective, the study partnered with Pasar, a Flemish sociocultural organisation that has been committed to the organisation of and participation in activities in tourism and leisure for over 77 years.