Mega-events, transport legacy and the redistribution of employment accessibility
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Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
A growing number of studies have discussed the potential of mega-events in the promotion of urban development, particularly investigating the claims that such events can foster urban regeneration of host cities by boosting their local economies and leveraging infrastructure investments (Chalkley & Essex, 1999; Gratton, Shibli, & Coleman, 2005; Hiller, 2000). The infrastructure works associated with such events and their promises of enduring legacies play a key part in the justification used by local governments to bid for hosting mega-events as a means of attracting investments and bringing about new economic impulses (Chalkley & Essex, 1999; Paddison, 1993; Rubalcaba-Bermejo & Cuadrado-Roura, 1995; Zhang & Zhao, 2009).
This mega-event strategy to fast-track urban development is commonly backed by pro-growth discourses, which rely on the assumption that all local residents equally benefit from the trickle-down effect of economic growth and improvements in urban infrastructure (Baade, 1996; Baade & Matheson, 2004; Gratton et al., 2005; Hiller, 2000; Jones, 2001; Kasimati, 2003; Müller, 2015). However, in addition to inconclusive findings about whether the economic outcomes of such events match the positive expectations raised by official discourses (ibid), there is growing evidence of the negative impacts of mega-events on urban policy making. Much has been written on how mega-events put at risk democratic practices in host cities (Andranovich, Burbank, & Heying, 2001; Hiller, 2000; Müller, 2015; Raco, 2014; Roche, 1994), involve significant environmental impacts (Collins, Flynn, Munday, & Roberts, 2007; Collins, Jones, & Munday, 2009) and often displace the long-term goals of urban development polices (Andranovich et al., 2001; Gold & Gold, 2011; Müller, 2015).
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Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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