Sport, culture and the modern state: emerging themes in stimulating urban regeneration in the UK

Abstract

Since 1997 the relationship between sport policy and urban regeneration in the UK has expanded significantly as the transformative power of sport has been recognised and increasingly evidenced. The emergence of sport as a significant policy area, although often as part of a wider cultural block, has also been paralleled by attempts to reform its delivery in line with attempts by Government to modernise the state and ensure policy making is more effective and efficient. Within this context this paper unpacks the emergence of sports’ enhanced institutional presence in the policy process through examples drawn from a public service award programme – the Beacon Council scheme. This scheme illuminates how sport and cultural policy has changed in focus over time in relation to its use as a regeneration catalyst, and how more recently it is coming under pressure from fiscal retrenchment as a result of 2012 Olympic preparations. The paper concludes by assessing the sustainability of sport and cultural polity within UK policy making.