Mega-challenges: programming management for event projects

Abstract

While the pursuit of signature event architecture never slows down, solutions to the post-utilization issues seem too slow to catch up, leaving behind many “white-elephant”-type event legacies. Despite such mega-failures originated from a dearth of long-term visions beyond the events on the organizer side, academic interest in the domain of programming event projects has long trailed its significance, resulting in an absence of a readily accessible pool of literature and experience both within and outside China. As a preview to an ongoing case study on the Big4 public building projects of Expo 2010 Shanghai China, this paper first attempts to outline the general programming challenges of balancing temporariness and permanency implicit in such event architecture. In-depth explanations will then be given as to why the research pivots on how to manage the processes of programming the centerpieces of event-catalyzed urban renewal practices - high-profile public building projects from the client. Finally, a brief overview of the specific programming challenges of the Big4 will be provided based on the author‟s four years of work experience as a client member and project coordinator with the Expo Organizer during the project initiation stage.