Events and urban regeneration : the strategic use of events to revitalise cities / Andrew Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Andrew, 1975 June 25-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban renewal.

City promotion.

Festivals.

Physical Description:

xvi, 302 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2012.

Summary:

Major events have become increasingly important for cities in recent years. There has been a parallel mushrooming of writing on the subject but this has been spread across a disparate range of disciplines, such as cultural studies, geography or leisure and sports studies. Smith has produced an extremely impressive synthesis of this material neatly focused around the link with regeneration. In an exceptionally comprehensive coverage; he moves from a wide theoretical sweep through an analysis of the key themes to practical ideas on implementation. Meanwhile this is balanced by a number of well-integrated case studies. This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the complexity of the issues involved.

Andy Thornley, Emeritus Professor of Urban Planning, London School of Economics, UK

Andrew Smith has written a timely and much-needed examination of the relationship between major events and urban regeneration. Erudite and ambitious, this well-crafted book synthesizes primary research, blends it with a broad array of robust secondary sources, and delivers a comprehensive discussion of the promise and problems with event-related public policy. Well written theoretical discussions, clearly defined terms, and informative international case studies make this book a must-have for students and scholars as well as policy-makers and practitioners. Interested in urban planning, urban geography, tourism, sport studies, or the city more generally? This is your source.

Kimberly S. Schimmel, Associate Professor of the Sociology of Sport, Kent State University, USA

In recent years, major sporting and cultural events such as the Olympic Games have emerged as significant elements of public policy, particularly in efforts to achieve urban regeneration. As well as opportunities arising from new venues, these events are viewed as a way to stimulate investment, gain civic engagement and publicise progress to assist the urban regeneration process more generally. However, the pursuit of regeneration involving events is a practice that is poorly understood, controversial and risky.

Events and Urban Regeneration is the first book dedicated to the use of events in regeneration. It explores the relationship between events and regeneration by analysing a range of cities and a range of sporting and cultural event projects. It considers various theoretical perspectives to provide insight into why major events are important to contemporary cities. It examines the different ways that events can assist regeneration, as well as problems and issues associated with this unconventional form of public policy. It identifies key issues faced by those tasked with using events to assist regeneration and suggests how practices could be improved in the future.

The book adopts a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing together ideas from the geography, urban planning and tourism literatures, as well as from the emerging events and regeneration fields. It illustrates arguments with a range of international case studies placed within and at the end of chapters to show positive outcomes that have been achieved and examples of high-profile failures.

This timely book is essential reading for students and practitioners who are interested in events, urban planning, urban geography and tourism. Book jacket.

Contents:

An introduction to events and urban regeneration

Towards a theoretical and critical understanding of event regeneration

The evolution of event regeneration strategies

Event venues and urban regeneration

Events and the parallel physical regeneration of cities

Events and social regeneration : from social impacts to social leverage

Events and new directions for post-industrial cities

Events and tourism development in post-industrial cities

Delivering event regeneration

Conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415581479

0415581478

9780415581486

0415581486

9780203136997

0203136993

OCLC:

698322623