Mega-Events

This book brings together different perspectives of mega-event bidding, hosting and legacies. Their impact is considered through an international range of mega-events in terms of land use, political and socio-economic change, and the placemaking processes that accompany these area-based regeneration projects. From city-regions that have not been successful or withdrawn from mega-event selection, to contemporary Olympic, Football World Cup and Expo host cities whose legacy is still unfolding, to event sites whose legacy is now established, the global appeal of the mega-event is apparent from this collection. The book interrogates the mega-event phenomenon in ten countries, from North and South America, and Australia, to Western and Eastern Europe. Drawing on their historical evolution and antecedents, and following recurrent themes of urban regeneration and resistance, the book highlights the importance of major events and festivals to the creation and marketing of place through branding and regional growth In considering a range of mega-events critically and in different national and geopolitical contexts, the book will be of interest to policy and decision-makers at local, regional, national and international levels, and will be of particular interest to professionals, scholars and students working in planning, urban studies, sport and leisure studies, and in event and festival management.

Graeme Evans is Professor of Creative & Cultural Economy, University of the Arts London. He is a widely published expert on creative cities and the phenomenon of mega-events and regeneration, and advises cultural agencies on cultural planning, creative industries, and mega-event impacts and strategies

Acknowledgements; Contributors; 1. Introduction (Graeme Evans) Part I: Mega-Events: Place-Making, Regeneration and Legacy; 2. Pestilence, toxicity and all the fun of the fair: brownfield sites, mega-events and area regeneration, 1939-2012 (John Gold & Maggie Gold); 3. From Albertopolis to Olympicopolis: Back to the Future? (Graeme Evans); 4. A World Fair for the Future: Revisiting the Legacy of the Expo 98 Urban Model (Patricia Aelbrecht); 5. The regional scale of contemporary mega-events. The Milan Expo 2015, the post-event, and the challenges for public policies and spatial planning (Stefano Di Vita); 6. Pimping the Faustian city: Mega-events and urban image construction in Rio de Janeiro (Anne-Marie Broudehoux); 7. A new road and rail link from the mountains to the coast: the mixed legacy of Sochi Olympic's most expensive project (Sven Daniel Wolfe); Part II: Alternative Mega-Events strategies: critiques and responses to failed/serial bids; 8. Bidding trepidation: Stockholm's uncertain relationship with the Olympic Games (Eric Olson, Robert Oliver and Luke Juran); 9. What HafenCity Hamburg can learn from the Olympics (Mathias Kuhlmann); 10. Toronto: A Tale of Many Mega-Event Bids (Robert Oliver); Glossary/Index