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Mega-events and urban image construction : Beijing and Rio de Janeiro / Anne-Marie Broudehoux
Edited by Routledge. New York - 2017
While societies shape the way their cities look and are represented, urban images, in turn, nurture and structure social relations in multiple ways. As exacerbated representations of society’s dreams and desires, in their most extravagant and superlative dimensions, mega-event spectacles such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics largely rest upon the production of images. The focus of this book is the influence of mega-events in the transformation of image construction practices in their host cities. It uses the idea of urban image construction as a lens through which to examine the spectacles of mega-events, with chapters exploring different themes that compose the imagineering process. The physical, social and political dimensions of these spectacles are addressed, as is the emerging resistance to controversial initiatives. Mega-events are increasingly instrumentalized by local political and economic elites to reconfigure power relations, strengthen their hold upon urban territory and increasingly exclude certain populations groups from the decision-making process. Through an analysis of event-related urban construction efforts in Rio de Janeiro’s and Beijing this book examines the effects of mega-events upon the construction of an exclusive vision of urbanity. The book thus offers a critical analysis of the practice of urban image construction, and will be of interest to those working in geography, urban studies, tourism, sport studies, development studies and politics.