Abstract
This study explores service design strategies for Culturally Embedded Marathons (CEMs), proposing a research perspective that integrates cultural memory formation mechanisms (symbol is ation, ritual is ation, and institutional is ation) to examine service design frameworks. Through a case study of the representative 2025 Kyoto Marathon, we identified 26 cultural touch points within its service design system. Using Python, we scraped and analysed 2,689 user-generated posts from social media platforms documenting the 2025 Kyoto Marathon, comprising 13,345 images. Computer vision analysis was employed to assess the distribution, frequency, and key combinations of these cultural touch points. The findings reveal that ritualised cultural touch points more effectively engage users within the service design system of CEMs. Moreover, high-frequency interactions with individual or combined touch points predominantly occur during service phases with prolonged user engagement. This study provides service designers and event organisers with actionable insights for transforming ephemeral services or events into enduring social value or collective memory, thereby advancing service design theory in urban events and sports planning.
Keywords
Service design; Cultural memory; Marathon events; Cultural touchpoints; Vision analysis
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.185
Citation
Jiang, Y., Bi, X., Siu, K.W., Zhang, K., Ye, W.,and Zhang, H.(2025) Integrating Cultural Touchpoints in Service Design: Insights from Culturally Embedded Marathons, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.185
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 7 - Service Design for Public Services and Policies
Integrating Cultural Touchpoints in Service Design: Insights from Culturally Embedded Marathons
This study explores service design strategies for Culturally Embedded Marathons (CEMs), proposing a research perspective that integrates cultural memory formation mechanisms (symbol is ation, ritual is ation, and institutional is ation) to examine service design frameworks. Through a case study of the representative 2025 Kyoto Marathon, we identified 26 cultural touch points within its service design system. Using Python, we scraped and analysed 2,689 user-generated posts from social media platforms documenting the 2025 Kyoto Marathon, comprising 13,345 images. Computer vision analysis was employed to assess the distribution, frequency, and key combinations of these cultural touch points. The findings reveal that ritualised cultural touch points more effectively engage users within the service design system of CEMs. Moreover, high-frequency interactions with individual or combined touch points predominantly occur during service phases with prolonged user engagement. This study provides service designers and event organisers with actionable insights for transforming ephemeral services or events into enduring social value or collective memory, thereby advancing service design theory in urban events and sports planning.