However, current economic, environmental and social trends challenge a development model based on urban spectacle and related mega-projects, urging to take into account multiple local issues besides global competition. 10 Bidding for a mega-event thus stimulates and sometimes imposes a redefinition of urban agendas and the branding of new urban identities as gateways to higher or more specialised rankings. The competitive mechanism behind the selection of host cities drives a kind of imaginative planning by which cities either pretend to match the event’s vision and values better than their competitors, or promise a strong commitment to transform accordingly. From ‘Copy & Paste’ Urbanism to Urban Creativ (.)Ģ Despite criticism, cities frequently embark on the long journey from bid to delivery and legacy with confidence and disregard of risk. 11 Francesc Muñoz, “Urbanalisation and City Mega-Events.Environment and Society, 10(1), New York/Oxford (.) 10 John Lauermann, “The Urban Politics of Mega-Events.8 For this reason, non-governmental promoters of mega-events such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are incorporating environmental sustainability, social inclusion, heritage preservation, and compliance with local planning strategies into their guidelines as requirements for bids. 7 Overall, the reputational advantages for host cities are increasingly harder to achieve, with repercussions affecting the image of mega-event organisers at both the local and international levels. Citizens denounce the touristification of cities as a threat to housing affordability, to public investments in local services, and to life quality. 5 In recent times, concerns are growing along with the rise of environmental and social sensibility, pushing citizens in some cases to oppose bids for sporting, commercial, cultural and other mega-events, 6 which are usually accompanied by substantial urban and infrastructural redevelopment. Several past examples show that failure is not an uncommon outcome, either regarding the mega-event itself or its urban legacy. 4 Enthusiasm for successful bids often comes with bitter criticism by actors who fear that a planning disaster might occur. 2 However, hosting mega-events can be a gamble in some remarkable ways, given for instance, the uniqueness of the multiple challenges that such events entail for local governments, 3 as well as the multi-faceted risks that expected benefits never materialise and new conflicts arise. 9 Martin Schnitzer and Lukas Haizinger, “Does the Olympic Agenda 2020 Have the Power to Create a New (.)ġ The widespread aspiration of cities to become global network nodes and, therefore, to capture growth potentials (both positionally and reputationally) unfolds, among other processes, in the bidding to host mega-events.Jones and Davide Ponzini, “Mega-events and the Preservation of Urban Heritage: Literatur (.) 7 Graeme Hayes and John Karamichas (eds.), Olympic Games, Mega-Events and Civil Societies.6 Anne-Marie Broudehoux and Fernanda Sánchez, “The Politics of Mega-Event Planning in Rio de Janeiro: (.).5 Christopher Gaffney, “Between Discourse and Reality: The Un-sustainability of Mega-Event Planning”, (.).4 Marie Delaplace and Pierre-Olaf Shut (eds.), Hosting the Olympic Games: Uncertainty, Debates and Co (.).Heying, “Mega-Events, Urban Development, and Pu (.) Short, “Globalization, Cities and the Summer Olympics”, C ity: Analysis of Urban Trends, Cul (.) 1 The contents of the article are totally shared by the two authors.
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