IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v49y2017i8p1887-1904.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fragile growth coalitions or powerful contestations? Cancelled Olympic bids in Boston and Hamburg

Author

Listed:
  • John Lauermann
  • Anne Vogelpohl

Abstract

Hosting sports “mega-events†like the Olympics is a common scenario among urban growth coalitions worldwide. They are promoted as temporary “catalysts†for local economic growth linked to exceptional decisions in land provision and public spending. But this model of growth politics is increasingly contested: recent Olympic bids have failed in a number of cities as urban social movements organize against them while growth coalitions are unable or unwilling to defend their projects. Two cities exemplify this changing political economic landscape: Boston (USA) and Hamburg (Germany). Both cities launched bids for the 2024 Summer Olympics, and both cities subsequently cancelled their bids. Drawing on a comparative study of bidding politics in Boston and Hamburg, the paper asks why growth policy failed, analyzing the conflict between opposition movements and long-established growth coalitions. These episodes are symptoms of a growth coalition fragility that weakens their effectiveness in urban politics. Urban growth coalitions must contend with changing growth priorities and leadership; by triggering fragility, protest movements are able to gain new influence on the urban policy agenda.

Suggested Citation

  • John Lauermann & Anne Vogelpohl, 2017. "Fragile growth coalitions or powerful contestations? Cancelled Olympic bids in Boston and Hamburg," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(8), pages 1887-1904, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:49:y:2017:i:8:p:1887-1904
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X17711447
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X17711447
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0308518X17711447?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Allen & Allan Cochrane, 2014. "The Urban Unbound: London's Politics and the 2012 Olympic Games," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1609-1624, September.
    2. Matthias Bernt, 2009. "Partnerships for Demolition: The Governance of Urban Renewal in East Germany's Shrinking Cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 754-769, September.
    3. Harry H. Hiller, 2000. "Mega‐events, Urban Boosterism and Growth Strategies: An Analysis of the Objectives and Legitimations of the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 449-458, June.
    4. Stephen M McCauley & James T Murphy, 2013. "Smart Growth and the Scalar Politics of Land Management in the Greater Boston Region, Usa," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(12), pages 2852-2867, December.
    5. Aidan While & David Gibbs & Andrew E G Jonas, 2013. "The Competition State, City-Regions, and the Territorial Politics of Growth Facilitation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(10), pages 2379-2398, October.
    6. Björn Surborg & Rob VanWynsberghe & Elvin Wyly, 2008. "Mapping the Olympic growth machine," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 341-355, December.
    7. Allan Cochrane & Jamie Peck & Adam Tickell, 1996. "Manchester Plays Games: Exploring the Local Politics of Globalisation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(8), pages 1319-1336, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scott Rodgers & Clive Barnett & Allan Cochrane, 2014. "Where is Urban Politics?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1551-1560, September.
    2. Matteo Basso, 2016. "Esperienze di pianificazione di grandi eventi a confronto: Londra, Milano, Shanghai," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 124-141.
    3. Andrew Smith & Tim Fox, 2007. "From 'Event-led' to 'Event-themed' Regeneration: The 2002 Commonwealth Games Legacy Programme," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(5-6), pages 1125-1143, May.
    4. Mark Davidson & Donald McNeill, 2012. "The Redevelopment of Olympic Sites: Examining the Legacy of Sydney Olympic Park," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(8), pages 1625-1641, June.
    5. Shutian Zhou & Guofang Zhai & Yuwen Lu & Yijun Shi, 2021. "The development of urban mega-projects in China: A case study of Nantong’s metro project," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(4), pages 759-774, May.
    6. Brian Doucet, 2013. "Variations of the Entrepreneurial City: Goals, roles and visions in Rotterdam's Kop van Zuid and the Glasgow Harbour Megaprojects," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 2035-2051, November.
    7. Kevin G Ward, 2000. "State Licence, Local Settlements, and the Politics of ‘Branding’ the City," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 18(3), pages 285-300, June.
    8. Panarello, Demetrio, 2021. "Economic insecurity, conservatism, and the crisis of environmentalism: 30 years of evidence," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Büch, Martin-Peter & Maennig, Wolfgang & Schulke, Hans-Jürgen (ed.), 2012. "Zur Ökonomik von Spitzenleistungen im internationalen Sport," Edition HWWI, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI), volume 3, number 3.
    10. Loris Servillo & Rob Atkinson & Abdelillah Hamdouch & Loris Servillo & Antonio Paolo Russo, 2017. "Spatial Trends of Towns in Europe: The Performance of Regions with Low Degree of Urbanisation," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(4), pages 403-423, September.
    11. Prener, Chris & Braswell, Taylor & Monti, Daniel J., 2018. "St. Louis's "Urban Prairie": Vacant Land and the Potential for Revitalization," SocArXiv bc7eh, Center for Open Science.
    12. Matthias Bernt, 2009. "Partnerships for Demolition: The Governance of Urban Renewal in East Germany's Shrinking Cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 754-769, September.
    13. Kuang-Hua Hu & Fu-Hsiang Chen & Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng, 2016. "Evaluating the Improvement of Sustainability of Sports Industry Policy Based on MADM," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-21, June.
    14. Bayirbag Mustafa K., 2011. "Pro-Business Local Governance and (Local) Business Associations: The Case of Gaziantep," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(4), pages 1-39, December.
    15. Yun Zhong & Xiaobo Su, 2019. "Spatial selectivity and intercity cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(14), pages 3011-3029, November.
    16. Shuyi Xie & Elena Batunova, 2019. "Shrinking Historic Neighborhoods and Authenticity Dilution: An Unspoken Challenge of Historic Chinatowns in the United States through the Case of San Francisco," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Stefano Bloch, 2016. "Why do Graffiti Writers Write on Murals? The Birth, Life, and Slow Death of Freeway Murals in Los Angeles," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 451-471, March.
    18. Vivian Bickford‐Smith, 2010. "The Fairest Cape of Them All? Cape Town in Cinematic Imagination," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 92-114, March.
    19. Dikmen Bezmez, 2008. "The Politics of Urban Waterfront Regeneration: The Case of Haliç (the Golden Horn), Istanbul," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 815-840, December.
    20. Andrea Collins & Andrew Flynn & Max Munday & Annette Roberts, 2007. "Assessing the Environmental Consequences of Major Sporting Events: The 2003/04 FA Cup Final," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(3), pages 457-476, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:49:y:2017:i:8:p:1887-1904. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.