Mega-events and urban development: Olympics and legacies

This chapter explores the ‘material embedding’ of mega-event spectacles in the legacies they leave in host cities which can be of both a negative and positive kind, and consist of the creation of new place and space legacies. These themes are illustrated with reference to the modern Olympics, and particularly in the contemporary period. The chapter’s main focus is on Olympic mega-events as urban ‘place-makers’. That is they often involve new constructions, on the one hand of sports and related event facilities complexes, and on the other hand of community-related developments in housing and places of employment. Since the turn of the millennium they are now effectively required by the IOC bidding system to leave such legacies. The chapter explore such legacies in some detail in the influential case of the Sydney 2000 Olympic project which, in some respects, was understood to represent a ‘model’ for subsequent Olympic cities. The case of the Sydney Olympics is seen to show how mega-events can simultaneously be urban ‘space-makers’ as well as ‘place-makers’. Since Sydney mega-events have often been notably associated with strategically important values and policies of both ‘greening’ and humanising modern urbanisation through the provision of open and green spaces in urban centres.

Embedding mega-events: staging spectacles in changing cities

This chapter argues that the ‘spectacle’ of mega-events needs to be understood particularly at the level of host cities, and at that level in both in positive and negative terms and also in short and long-terms time-frames. Negatively events can, in the short-term, create spectacles and controversies in the form of the security they need, and in the long-term can create debts and ‘white elephant’ waste. They can also be understood in more positive terms as short-term performative ‘spectacles’ which are ‘embedded’ in the long-term physical legacies they leave in their host cities. It suggests that there are two main types of mega-event urban legacy. The main type is that of ‘place-making’ buildings and facilities, exemplified by iconic ‘starchitect’ architecture or functional architecture or both. The more secondary type is that of the ‘space-making’ creation or renewal of major green parks and open public areas. The chapter shows that while both Olympic and Expos mega-events have left ‘starchitecture’ legacies, Olympics have traditionally tended to leave more of the ‘functional complex’ type of urban places, and Expos have tended to leave more of the ‘open public space’ and ‘recreational green park’ type urban spaces.

Introduction

Book Introductions should aim to answer three main questions, namely, why the book has been written (and thus relatedly why it might possibly be of interest to readers), what it is about and how its concerns and contents will be addressed and organised. In this Introduction I will address these three questions....

Mega-events, glocalisation and urban legacy: London as an event city and the 2012 Olympics

Mega-events exemplify the ‘glocalisation’ involved in global processes being embodied in local, urban contexts. This chapter explores this through the particular lens of mega-events staged in London and their urban legacies. London is understood as being both a Western and European world regional city as well as being a national capital. The chapter show how London has been physically marked and culturally influenced by a number of mega-events since the mid-19thC, particularly Expos and Expo-type events. They left long-term urban legacies, most notably in the cases of the ‘Albertopolis’ and Southbank cultural quarters. The chapter uses some of these introductory and historical themes to inform a detailed look into the case of the London 2012 Olympics and its various social and economic legacies. It shows the importance for the London model of mega-event legacy-making, of the construction of a major new urban park for social and environmental reasons. On the basis of a review of developments in the short- to medium-term post-Olympic period the chapter concludes that event planners’ hopes that the Olympic park can operate as a hub and catalyst also for economic and employment development, particularly in the cultural and creative industries, are credible.

Mega-events, urban space and social change: Expos, parks and cities

This chapter is concerned with association of mega-event projects with pro-ecological (‘green’) aspects of urban regeneration projects host cities and it illustrates this in relation to the urban impacts and legacies of historical and contemporary Expos. The chapter argues that there are strong, if often overlooked, parallels and indeed tangible inter-connections, between what we can refer to as ‘the urban park-building movement’ on the one hand and the ‘urban Expo movement’ on the other. The body of the chapter explores the history of Expos as urban park-building projects, and thus as both space-creating and ‘green’ projects. It covers both of the two main phases of modernisation and urbanisation, namely the primary phase from the mid-19thC to the late 20thC and the secondary phase from the late 20thC to the early 21stC. The discussion in the final section moves to the contemporary period and focuses on a set of case studies of Expos as urban policy projects, particularly in terms of their space-creating, park-building and ‘green’ aspects. The cases are those of Western (European) set of contemporary-era Expos, namely Seville 1992 and particularly Lisbon 1998 and Zaragoza 2008.

The digital age, media sport and mega-events: piracy and symbiosis in the cultural industries

What are the implications of the digital age and new media for media-sport and the mediation of sport mega-events like the Olympics? In this chapter we focus on the internet ‘piracy’ problem and look into recent governmental policies and practices which aim to address and curb internet piracy in both the USA and the UK. The core of the chapter addresses problems of internet piracy in the field of media-sport and the related field of major sport-events like the Olympic Games, and also high profile and high value football matches. In relation to the Olympics it looks ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches by the IOC to address the internet ‘piracy’ problem. Finally, the chapter addresses the current co-existence between television and the internet-based media in the context of the Olympics, and the possibilities for a new symbiosis in this area.

Mega-events and mediatisation: between old and new media

Sport mega-events are often referred to as being media-events. This chapter is concerned with the relationship particularly between Olympic mega-events and the media in a period of massive media change involving the digital revolution and the rise of the internet. The chapter’s discussion of these issues in the mediatisation of mega-events is in two parts. The first part is concerned with the changing nature of the media and wider social contexts in which the relationship between the Olympics and media has developed. On this basis it then looks at the symbiotic relationship which developed and continues to endure between the Olympics and the old media, particularly television. The second part introduces the changing social context involved in the growth of new media, together with the potential for the growth of positive relations, a new symbiosis, between the Olympics and the new media.

Mega-events and macro-social change

This chapter outlines a new sociological framework for exploring the deeper and broader contexts of macro-social change in an era of globalisation which are relevant to understanding contemporary mega-events. It suggests that in recent decades Western society in particular has entered a ‘second phase’ in the modernization process marked by changes in the media (i.e. the digital revolution and the rise of the internet), in urbanisation processes (e.g. post-industrial urban regeneration in a context of ecological crisis), and in global geo-politics (i.e. the rise of China and of other ‘emerging’ countries and world regions). On this basis the chapter then indicates how this analysis of macro-social change generally connects with three key sets of changes in and around the world of mega-events in media, urban and global locational aspects of mega-events. These three sets of inter-connected contextual and mega-event changes are explored in further detail in the three main Parts of the book.

Mega-events, globalisation and urban legacy: events in China in the early twenty-first century

The contemporary period of globalisation involves various economic and other ‘global shifts’ from Western to non-Western societies. This chapter explores the idea that these deeper social changes are reflected in the world of mega-events, notably in the ‘global shift’ in mega-event locations away from the West to increasingly include non-Western world regions. The chapter views contemporary mega-events as ‘multi-theme legacy park’ projects for their host cities. Their shift to new non-Western contexts is illustrated by reviewing mega-events in contemporary China, particularly the cases of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Game and the Shanghai 2010 Expo 2010. The chapter shows that, in spite of many differences, at least one notable commonality between the Sydney 200O Olympic model and event legacies in Beijing and Shanghai in particular is the construction of major new urban green spaces. These urban park-building and park-renewing projects have typically aimed to embody, on a permanent basis, environmental and recreational (rather than sporting) values and vision of urbanism. In addition these mega-event projects all aimed, in comparable ways (even if to greater or lesser extents), to use these new urban parks as hubs and catalysts from which other (social and economic) mega-event legacy influences might also be developed.