Event as a Temporary Community: A Conceptual Framework of Belonging in Participatory Events

Participatory events bring individuals together within shared spaces and create opportunities for interaction, collective participation and social connection. While existing event research has examined these social experiences through concepts such as communitas, social identity and belonging, the processes through which they may contribute to the formation of a temporary community remain less clearly integrated. This conceptual paper aims to develop a framework explaining how participatory events facilitate temporary community formation and a sense of belonging among participants. We conducted a focused conceptual synthesis of literature from event studies and related social theories using Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The synthesis identified five connected dimensions: shared event space, shared symbols and identity, collective participation, social connection, and temporary belonging. Based on these dimensions, the Temporary Community Formation Framework is proposed as a sequential process through which participants may move from being present within an event environment to temporarily experiencing themselves as part of a shared social group. The paper contributes to event studies by integrating communitas, social identity and belonging within a single conceptual framework and positioning temporary community as a possible social outcome of participatory event experiences. The framework provides a basis for future empirical testing and offers event managers a social perspective for designing events that encourage shared identity, collective participation, and connection among participants.