Abstract
Mega-events like the Olympic Games are powerful forces that shape cities. In the wake of mega-events, a variety of positive and negative legacies have remained in host cities. In order to bring some theoretical clarity to debates about legacy creation, I introduce the concepts of the mega-event utopia, dystopia and heterotopia. A mega-event utopia is ideal and imaginary urbanism embracing abstract concepts about economies, socio-political systems, spaces, and societies <em>in</em> the host <em>during</em> events. The mega-event utopia (in contrast to other utopian visions other stakeholders may hold) is dictated by the desires of the mega-event owners irrespective of the realities in the event host. In short, a mega-event utopia is the perfect event host from the owner’s perspective. Mega-event utopias are suggested as a theoretical model for the systematic transformation of their host cities. As large-scale events progress as ever more powerful transformers into this century, <em>mega-event dystopias</em> have emerged as negatives of these idealistic utopias. As hybrid post-event landscapes, m<em>ega-event heterotopias</em> manifest the temporary mega-event utopia as legacy imprints into the long-term realities in hosting cities. Using the Olympic utopia as an example of a mega-event utopia, I theorize utopian visions around four urban traits: economy, image, infrastructure and society. Through the concept of the <em>mega-event legacy utopia</em>, I also provide some insight toward the operationalization of the four urban traits for a city’s economic development, local place marketing, urban development, and public participation.
Highlights
Large-scale events such as the Olympic Games are temporary celebrations of creativity, athleticism, and excellence
Legacies have been perceived as relatively unsystematic, place-specific outcomes of mega-event staging that can be grouped into various categories (Cornelissen et al, 2011; Malfas et al, 2004; Preuss, 2015, 2016; Ritchie, 1984)
What has been perceived as a somewhat muddled and messy legacy creation process has a systematic pattern that can be deduced through its mega-event utopia
Summary
Large-scale events such as the Olympic Games are temporary celebrations of creativity, athleticism, and excellence. Similar to the evolution of the mega-event owner visions, the Olympic Games, the World Cup, and the World’s Fair have advanced from needing small scale urban interventions to large scale transformations (Chalkley & Essex, 1999; Essex & Chalkley, 1998; Gold & Gold, 2011; Hiller, 2006; Liao & Pitts, 2006) These transformations require billions of dollars in investments to produce an impressive legacy (Cashman, 2011; Short, 2008), while the widely advertised developmental effect of mega-events for much-needed urban projects is a highly anticipated benefit for hosts (Cashman, 2006, 2011; Hiller, 2006). Planning a good city entails planning outcomes of human flourishing and multipli/city and planning means in form of good governance on the merits of transparency, public accountability, inclusiveness, responsiveness, inspired political leadership, and non-violent conflict resolution (Friedman, 2012)
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