Critical Review of the Olympic Cities - Essay Example

It is not a new phenomenon by many cities in promoting boosterism through the holding of big events. The American cities have held show case events in attracting visitors, investors and residents. Recently, this strategy has changed in many cities because of many factors such as change in federal urban policy and the high global economic competition. At the start of the 1980 there was shorted in the funds that were given by federal government in the development of the cities. This made other cities to come up with other strategies in the development of their cities.

The mega events are not only symbolic but they are also considered present a good image for the cities. This image has resulted in the growth and economic development of the cities. There is a comparison between image creation and the local government. Image creation has ensured that there is allocation of resources at different cities. Mega events are a big push to the development of economic development. These events are recognised as a great opportunity for growth in many different cities.

The Olympic Games are considered as the major mega events. This is because they able to increase tourist attraction and ensure the host company get a lot of revenue. Most importantly is that the host city get media recognition for their effort in holding the events. Methodology As part of the survey methodology different cities were selected where the event already been held. The survey was conducted on three cities which have experienced bidding as well as staging the Olympic game in areas such as Atlanta, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

The focus in mainly on the Olympics as it has become the mega event during the global economic competition. The survey is conducted only on US cities due to the political economy of the federal system (Andranovich, Burbank, & Heying, 2001). The American cities are in a unique position with regards to hosting large events such as Olympics. Mega events occur with multi-dimensional and multipurpose of the aspect. The events in each city are examined over three key stages which involves, bidding for the game, organising and post games legacy.

The three cities differ in terms of size, political history, social consumption and economic base. Therefore by comparing the cities the main aim is to identify the features of relationship between consumption based economic development and mega event strategy in urban politics. The journal Olympic cities: Lessons learned from mega events, which aim to address the challenges and opportunities in hosting the Olympic Games and focusing on cities of Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The focus is mainly on the adoption of strategy to conduct the mega event and the effect it had on urban policy (Andranovic, Burbank, & Heying, 2001).

To begin with an overview of consumption on economic development has been discussed which had two dimensions which includes building convention centres and sports development. Many people aspire in learning how the mega event strategy contributes in the urban politics of the US. There are the cities in US that have high experience bidding in order to hold the Olympic Games (Andranovich, Bur