Legacy and ephemerality of city mega-events: urban regeneration and governance in London 2012 Olympic Games

Abstract

The concept of entrepreneurial city has remained relevant and popular since its first emergence several decades ago. Among the strategies adopted, hosting city mega-events is still widely applied by city governments to attract international visitors, businesses and investments. Alongside the software programs of the events, entrepreneurial cities will also prepare them with extensive construction and infrastructure projects, taking the opportunity to capitalize in the events and equally importantly fast-track the development and growth agenda with the political imperative generated. Mega-event led urban regeneration emerges as one model under these entrepreneurially catalyzed agenda. As a commercially-focused and economically-oriented approach fundamentally built in the entrepreneurial strategy, hosting mega-event will lead to the formation of a growth coalition which profits from the increase in land exchange values resulting from the general urban growth process. The continuous strengthening of the coalition will eventually compromise the use values, which include the social network and the sense of community of the local residents affected by the development. The model therefore embodies an inherent conflict in delivering regeneration. The study examines this model using the perspective of urban governance and focuses on the power relation between the state, the private sector and the community involved in the regeneration process. The current London 2012 Olympic Games, which positions itself a regeneration Games, is the latest and explicit attempt to apply this model. Following a series of other entrepreneurial regeneration initiatives in East London, the London 2012 Games represents another entrepreneurial initiative employing similar mechanisms of public-private partnership and privatization approaches, only with a far greater scale. The political imperative brought by the Games has prompted the proactive participation of the state in the common growth agenda shared by the coalition. With the political, legal and financial resources transferred from the government to the private sector to ensure a successful spectacle, the growth coalition following this mega-event is a state-led powerful one which contributes largely to its domination in the urban politics. Episodes of community displacement, disadvantaged residents in bargaining for future development plan, and compromised regeneration gains have been consequently observed in the Olympic site and its immediate surrounding areas. Affirming the inherent conflict embedded in the mega-event led urban regeneration model, the London Games risks deepening social polarization and gentrification. While the progress examined so far covers only the Games initiation and preparation stage, the governance approach can still be reverted in the coming legacy delivery stage to realize a genuine regeneration. This will depend largely on the new roles the state power will take in the on-going process of the Games.