The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in the UK - Essay Example

The Stratford Olympic Stadium Sports has come to be recognized as being of considerable significance for the urban regeneration of a by enhancing its social, economic and cultural standing in a global world. The city in particular is considered to play a key role in the evolving system of governance. As cities compete with one another for inward investment and struggle to deal with problems of social and economic disruption, increasingly cultural policy, including policy for sport, is developed to address the twin aims of economic development and social inclusion. Back in the 1980s, hosting the Olympic Games was thought of as a financial and administrative burden to the organizing city and country. This view was confirmed by Montreal's horrendous loss of 692 million in the staging of the 1976 summer Olympics. The 1972 summer Olympics in Munich made a loss of 178 million. However, it was in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that the city organizers posted a whopping 215 million in revenues. The City of London's plan to stage the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics centre will contribute to the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley around Stratford in the east of the city. The goal of the UK government is to build structures that will be useful even after the Olympics. The key venues would all be located in a 500-acre Olympic precinct to be set in 1,500 acres of parkland stretching from Hackney Marshes to the River Thames. Among the facilities being prepared are as follows: an 80,000-seater Olympic stadium at Marshgate Lane in the heart of the Olympic precinct in Stratford to stage the athletics and opening/closing ceremonies and a 25,000-seater athletics stadium after the games, with a sports training, science and medicine centre. There will be a 20,000-seater aquatic centre which will The centre will contain two 50m swimming pools and a 25m diving pool, staging swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, the water polo finals and the modern pentathlon swimming. A velodrome and BMX track located at the Eastway Sports Centre alongside the existing Eastway cycling circuit for track and BMX cycling can accommodate 6,000 spectators. A multi-sport complex of four indoor sports arenas located at Hackney Wick on the site of the former Hackney Greyhound Stadium to stage basketball, fencing, handball, volleyball and modern pentathlon events. A hockey complex comprising two competition stadiums and one warm-up pitch located alongside the Olympic Village site. Stratford Park will also have the Olympic Park tennis complex for training purposes and Paralympic events. In addition, an Olympic Village accommodating 17,000 beds will be located next to Stratford International Rail Terminal and would become housing after the Games. A media complex less than five minutes' drive from the Olympic stadium, comprising a 65,000 square-metre single-storey International Broadcast Centre and a 45,000 square-metre two-storey Main Press Centre. the south of the Olympic Park Zone would be another cluster of venues on both sides of the River Thames. The plans are designed to fit in with the International Olympic Committee's ideal of a compact Games, with more than half of the events within a 15-minute drive of the Olympic village, itself just three miles from the heart of the capital. Zevi, et. al., (1957) states that architecture deals with a concrete phenomenon which is entirely different: here, man moving about within the building, studying it from successive points of views, himself creates. Architecture takes into account interior space. Beautiful architecture would then be architecture in which the interior space attracts us, elevates us and dominates us spiritually. Ugly architecture would be that in which the interior space disgusts and repels us. The establishment of Olympic facilities is helpful to a country particularly when the government authorities decide to shoulder the expenses related to all its activities. Mules and Faulkner's (1996) stressed that the public sector plays a pivotal role in staging the event and incurring these losses in order to generate the benefits to the local economy. This financial structure is common to many special events, and results in the losses alluded to above. The reason why governments host such events and lose taxpayers' money in the process lies in spillover effects or externalities. Major sports events require investment in new sports facilities and often this is paid for in part by central government or even international sports bodies. Thus some of this investment expenditure represents a net addition to the local economy since the money comes in from outside. The facilities remain after the event has finished acting as a platform for future activities that can generate additional tourist expenditure (Mules and Faulkner, 1996). Sports events can raise the profile of a city and therefore success cannot be judged on simply a profit and loss basis. The attraction of events is linked to a re-imaging process, and in the case of many UK cities, is invariably linked to strategies of urban regeneration and tourism development (Bramwell 1995; Loftman and Spirou 1996). Major events have the ability to project a new image and identity for a city. The hosting of major sports events is justified by the host city in terms of marketing and promotions. Responsible local governance and local economic development concerns may contribute to city marketing, attract the huge tourist market or of inward investment and develop sports facilities for local residents. Sports facilities may be seen as triggers to further growth (Page, 1990). A classic strategy of inter-urban competition has been the bidding for the staging of major events (Cochrane, Peck, and Tickell, 1996) very often linked to a reimaging process (Dobson and Gratton, 1996). The process of urban competition through sport may be conceptualized as occurring on the global, continental, national, or regional/local level. In a quasi central place theory approach, one might develop a hierarchy of sports places at each of these levels. Globally, there are only three major sporting events, the Olympics, the World Cup, and the World Athletics Championships, which carry with them the potential to establish global place recognition. Of these only the Olympics and the Athletics Championships are 'city-located' rather than staged in multi-urban centres, and while the Olympics carry instant global recognition, the World Athletic Championships are less effective. The social impact of sports The role of sport in urban economies is one which has begun to be recognised, particularly in the context of de-industrialisation and the growing importance of the service sector in such circumstances. There is also a literature relating to the costs and benefits of stadium development, particularly in the US (Baade and Dye, 1988a). The urban politics literature has recently burgeoned with studies of the development of the city as a growth machine (Logan and Molotch, 1996), or the development of urban coalitions and partnerships (Jonas, 1992). A particular sub-set of the literature on sport and economic regeneration is about the promotion of urban sporting events. Foley (1991) has addressed the role of the promotion of single large-scale events in economic development. Some authors have centered on the economic impact of programmes of significant sporting events (Baade and Dye, 1990; Crompton, 1995). Some authors estimate the social impact of sports on the community. (Hall, 1992; York, 1991). There is a mix of positive prescription and critical analysis (Bramwell, 1997; Hall, 1992; Law, 1994). Within this literature, there is critical material on the application of economic impact analysis (Crompton, 1995). There are some exceptions, such as Cochrane, Peck and Tickell's (1996) account of the role of public-private partnership in the generation of Manchester's bid for the 2000 Olympics, which they describe as, in effect, a 'grants coalition' formed to maximise the opportunities to access government monies, rather than a growth coalition seeking to foster urban growth by maximising exchange values of urban resources. Henry and Paramio Salcines (1999) provide an account of attempts to construct a symbolic regime around sport in Sheffield to recast the image of the city which goes beyond earlier accounts that focus only partially on regime analysis. Johnson (1996) provides an account of the role of urban regime analysis in explaining the attraction and retention of a major tennis event to New Haven. There is literature on the symbolic construction of shared meanings and values, which is particularly significant in the reimaging, or 'reimagining', of the city (Bianchini and Schwengel, 1991). The significance for postmodern politics in the urban context of sport and reimaging is related to Bourdieu's (1989) account of distinction, taste and lifestyle. Just as new social groups and configurations and to undermine traditional cultural hierarchies, so new forms of politics move away from the class-based system of the old social structure. Restructuring of the global economy implies not just restructuring of class structures and cultural hierarchies, it also implies the restructuring of urban hierarchies. Just as individuals and new groups seek to redefine their identity, so too places, particularly deindustrialised cities seek to reimagine the identity of place. Thus sport, as a popular cultural form, not directly associated with the old industrial politics of class. As with individuals the cultural capital of place will be either immediately or ultimately convertible into economic capital: thus sport provides opportunities for direct profit generation, or as part of an attractive infrastructure attracting inward investment does so indirectly. The significance for postmodern politics in the urban context of sport and reimaging is related to Bourdieu's (1989) account of distinction, taste and lifestyle. Just as new social groups seek to distinguish themselves through new cultural configurations and to undermine traditional cultural hierarchies, so new forms of politics move away from the class-based system of the old social structure. Restructuring of the global economy implies not just restructuring of class structures and cultural hierarchies. Just as individuals and new groups seek to redefine their identity, so too places seek to re-imagine the identity of place. Thus sport, as a popular cultural form class tends to lend itself to postmodern politics of the urban. References Baade, R. and Dye, R. (1988a). 'An Analysis of the Economic Rationale for Public Subsidisation of Sports Stadiums'. Annals of Regional Science, Vol. 22(2), 37-47. Bianchini, F. and Schwengel, H. (1991). 'Re-imagining the City', in Corner, J. and Harvey, S. (eds) Enterprise and Heritage: Crosscurrents of National Culture, London: Routledge. Pages 44-45. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1989. Toward a reflexive sociology: A workshop with Pierre Bourdieu', Sociological Theory 7(1), 26-63. Pages 20-21. Bramwell, B. (1997). 'Strategic Planning Before and After a Mega-Event'. Tourism Management, Vol. 18(3), 167-176. Page 1. 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Page 4. Hall, C.M. (1992). Hallmark Tourist Events: Impact, Management and Planning. London: Belhaven. Page 2. Henry, I. P. and Paramio-Salcines, J. L. (1999). ISport and the analysis of symbolic regimes. A case study of the city of Sheffield. London: Sage Publications. Page 4. Johnson. P. (1996). "Architecture and Sports" in Loftman, P. and Spirou, C.S. Tourism & Culture: Towards the 21st Century. Conference; Centre for Travel & Tourism. Durham. Page 33. Jonas, A.E.G. (1992). 'A Place For Politics in Urban Theory - the Organization and Strategies of Urban Coalitions'. Urban Geography, Vol. 13(3), 280-290. Page 1. Logar, Andrew and Molotch, P. (1996). "Developing Tourism Sites" in Loftman, P. and Spirou, C.S. Tourism & Culture: Towards the 21st Century. Conference; Centre for Travel & Tourism. Durham. Page 67. Law, C. (1994). 'Manchester Bid For the Millennium Olympic Games'. Geography, Vol. 79(344 Pt3), 222-231. Page 55. Lorrain, D. and Stoker, G. (1997). (eds), The Privatization of Urban Services in Europe. London: Cassell. Page 44. Loftman, P. and Spirou, C.S. (1996) Tourism & Culture: Towards the 21st Century. Conference; Centre for Travel & Tourism. Durham. Page 86. Mules, T. and Faulkner, B. (1996) 'An Economic Perspective on Major Events'. Tourism Economics, Vol. 12(2). Page 7. Roche, M. (1992). Problems of Rationality and Democracy in Mega-Event Planning: A Study of Sheffield's World Student Games 1991. Paper presented at the Leisure and New Citizenship, the VIIIth European Leisure and Recreation Association Congress, Bilbao, Spain. Page 1. York, K. (1991). 'Sport and Community Identity: the Case of Bath Rugby Football Club'. South Hampshire Geographer, Vol. 20, 12-23. Page 23. Zevi, Bruno, Milton Gendel, Joseph A. Barry. (1957). New York: Horizon Press. Page 23-24. Online sources London 2012 venue: Olympic zone. Accessed on January 31, 2008. Read More