Special edition: Regeneration, enterprise, sport and tourism

Abstract

The concept of regeneration is complex and is continually being debated in and across several disciplines (see Chalkley and Essex, 1999; Edgell and Swanson, 2013; Evans, 2001; Gratton and Henry 2001; Matheson, 2010; Smith, 2012; Spirou, 2010). In the UK and around the world, regeneration is a key strategy to develop new opportunities after a period of post-industrial decline (Garcia, 2005; Mooney, 2004; Richards and Palmer, 2010; Tallon, 2010; Waitt and Gibson, 2009). Many regeneration initiatives have attempted to utilise events based on sport and the promotion of tourism to achieve this goal (Getz, 2003; Raj and Musgrave, 2009; Smith, 2012; Weed, 2007), which has resulted in a range of new enterprise and entrepreneurial opportunities (Hall, 2006; Preuss, 2007). Latterly, the promotion of regeneration initiatives has been accompanied by public–private partnerships. In cities such as Glasgow, sport and tourism are central to contemporary regeneration efforts due to shifts in demand and consumption patterns (Garcia, 2005; Mooney, 2004). The year 2014 represented a significant year for Glasgow and Scotland with the hosting of the Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup and the Scottish Homecoming, in addition to a range of other cultural events. The impacts of regeneration, investments and enterprise initiatives aim to achieve lasting impacts on the social and economic legacies of Glasgow as a sporting city and Scotland as an international destination. The purpose of this special issue is to bring together interdisciplinary approaches of regeneration in relation to enterprise, sport and tourism, independently or interdependently. The collection of papers presented here resulted from a two-day international workshop hosted by Glasgow Caledonian University, organised by Dr Nicholas Wise and Dr Geoff Whittam. Due to the already noted events occurring in Glasgow and Scotland, this international conference was timely. The two-day international workshop sought to analyse which current regeneration initiatives in the UK have proved to be ‘successful’, and to distil what lessons can be learnt from differing experiences, both in Scotland and internationally. The interdisciplinary nature of regeneration was the focus of the workshop