City and mega event: transformation of urban structure

Abstract

A Mega-event is an opportunity for a host city to improve itself, so Mega-events have evolved into a tool for major urban regeneration and transformation. This approach is often at high risk because, together with the undoubted advantages in the development of infrastructure, the city can also receive great losses, for example, in the sphere of cultural heritage. Also, the authors analyze other negative effects, such as the processes of "global urbanization" because the homogenization of architecture that these events leave as a legacy to the city. The paper examines changes in the architectural and planning development of regional centers of Russia where such global events were held: cities in which the 2018 FIFA World Cup was held and also Yekaterinburg (9th SCO summit, 2009), Vladivostok (24th APEC summit, 2012), Kazan (XXVII World Summer Universiade, 2013), Sochi (Olympic Games-2014). The aim of this paper is to assess the potential advantages and disadvantages of mega-events as catalysts of urban change. Both qualitative and quantitative research was used in the research.