Mega-event Cities: Urban Legacies of Global Sports Events

Mega-events represent an important moment in the life of a city, providing a useful lens through which we may analyse their cultural, social, political and economic development. In the wake of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) concerns about ’gigantism’ and wider public concerns about rising costs, it was imperative in the C21st to demonstrate the long term benefits that arose for the city and nations from hosting premier sporting events. ’London 2012’ was the first to integrate the concept of legacy from the moment a bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games was being considered. London proposed an ambitious programme of urban renewal for East London. Subsequent host city bids have adopted the ’legacy narrative’ and, as this book demonstrates, aligned this to major schemes of urban development and renewal. Bringing together scholars, practitioners and policy makers, this book focuses upon the legacies sought by cities that host major sports events. It analyses how governments, the IOC and others define and measure ’legacy’. It also focuses upon the challenges and opportunities facing future host cities of mega-events, looking at their aspirations and the intended impact upon their domestic and international development. It questions what the global shift in geographical location of mega-events means for sports development and the business of sport, what the attractions are for cities seeking to harness the hosting of a mega-event, and whether there may be longer term consequences for the bidding and hosting major sporting events in the wake of the widespread social unrest that accompanied the preparations in Brazil for hosting the FIFA World Cup (2014) and the summer Olympics (2016) and in Turkey, where there was significant opposition to bid for the 2020 summer Olympiad.

’Those wishing to procure or promote a sports mega-event in the twenty-first century will unfailingly promise a beneficial legacy to the host city and its inhabitants. But will there be a legacy? And, if so, who will be its beneficiaries, and who will lose out? These are now vital issues and this book, for which Gavin Poynter and Valerie Viehoff have assembled a formidable team, provides a valuable and multifaceted discussion of them. I strongly commend it.’ Stephen Wagg, Leeds Beckett University, UK, and author of The London Olympics of 2012: Politics, Promises and Legacy ’From Barcelona to Sochi, from London to Rio, sport mega-events became the most recent frontier of city restructuring under the driving force of global finance. This book examines the political economy of sport mega-events and its impacts on cities - and on citizens - exploring the multiple and contradictory meanings of the concept of legacy.’ Raquel Rolnick, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Valerie Viehoff is a Research Associate at the University of Bonn, Germany. She completed her PhD at University College London, UK, in 2009 and previously competed at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal. Gavin Poynter is Professor Emeritus at the School of Social Sciences and Chair of the London East Research Institute, University of East London, UK. His previous publications include London after Recession , (co-edited with A. Calcutt and I. MacRury, 2012) and Olympic Cities and the reshaping of London (co-edited with I. MacRury, 2009).