The Olympic Goose that Lays the Golden Egg
The Olympic Goose that Lays the Golden Egg
This chapter compares the respective bids of London and New York for the 2012 Olympics, assessing how different levels of government interact to promote place-based development strategies. Over the last two decades, global mega events have emerged as the opportunities of choice for city managers to promote and stimulate neoliberal urban development, and so the process of bidding for and hosting the Olympics has become ever more consequential. The potential for image enhancement, large-scale physical improvement, and high-value job creation proves irresistible for politicians, while investors and speculators see a golden opportunity to pocket massive sums of public money. Over that same period of time, the pressure to compete with other cities and regions in a flexible global economy has become a prime characteristic of urban policymaking. As a result, the competitive process of Olympic bidding is a showcase for how cities are encouraged to see their future in the world trade in goods and services.
Keywords: 2012 Olympics, place-based development strategies, global mega events, neoliberal urban development, urban policymaking, Olympic bidding, world trade, global economy
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