Planning and Managing Smaller Events

Downsizing the Urban Spectacle

Stefano Di Vita, Mark Wilson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429561238
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Aménagement urbain et paysager

Planning and Managing Smaller Events: Downsizing the Urban Spectacle explores the role of smaller scale events in contributing to the renewal and development of urban societies.

This book adopts a case study approach to examine a diverse range of events taking place in towns and cities in Europe, Asia and North America. This volume begins by defining and classifying these kinds of events and then verifying if and how they can provide opportunities for cities and towns without the disadvantages of world-famous large events. It concludes by discussing the growing regional scale of urban phenomena and their transition in post-metropolitan spaces.

Planning and Managing Smaller Events: Downsizing the Urban Spectacle will be of interest to government officials and policy makers involved in economic development, urban planning, parks, arts/culture as well as students and researchers interested in urbanism, event management, tourism and recreation.

1 Planning and managing smaller events
Trends, needs and opportunities for downsizing spectacle

Stefano Di Vita and Mark Wilson

Introduction

For years, mega-events such as the Olympics, Expos, and FIFA World Cup – which are characterized by world scale and extraordinary awarding by hosting cities and countries – have been considered an important driver of economic development and strategic re-positioning in the ‘global map.’ However, in parallel, mega-events have been considered more and more problematic by lacking economic viability (due to the high costs of event organization, and venue and infrastructure construction), creating social conflicts (due to the diversion of public support to ordinary local services or to the high costs for spectators), and limiting reuse of dedicated facilities and infrastructures (the so-called ‘white elephants’ of mega-event legacies). A negative perception of mega-events has grown due to the multiple conflicts associated with increasing gigantism and disruption that affect the local environment, economy, and society (Gaffney 2013; Müller 2014; Broudehoux & Sánchez 2015; Kassens-Noor et al. 2015; Muñoz 2015; Di Vita & Morandi 2018).

While dissatisfaction with mega-events leads public authorities to find alternative and more sustainable ways to promote identity and visibility, there is a growing number of cities and regions hosting smaller events, which seem a more successful way to combine spectacle with local development – not only for large cities in world city-regions but also for small and medium-sized towns in peripheral regions. Specifically, it seems that these small and medium-sized ephemeral phenomena are able to bring sports and culture to both major and minor cities and regions without taxing infrastructure, requiring excessive investment, or disrupting planning processes. According to these features, smaller events also have become a recurrent approach for cities and regions to promote their own identity and specialization and to better outline their image (Richards & Palmer 2015; McMahon-Beattie & Smith 2017).

As both large cities in world city-regions and small and medium-sized towns in peripheral regions seek global and local visibility, small and medium- sized events may provide a cost-effective way to gain presence without the expense and disruption associated with mega-events. It seems that these events are more scaled to host cities and regions, can be better owned and controlled by the host, are more resilient to financial and economic crises, and are able to offer more direct experiences for residents while building local identity, increasing economic activity and tourism capacity, and improving quality of space (Cudny 2016; Jepson & Clark 2016; Lamond & Platt 2016; Duffy & Mair 2017).

In order to be more precise, how does this book define smaller events? As a reaction against mega-events, it is difficult to define an exact range due to the many different options offered globally. In order to define a border, this edited book considers as small and medium-sized events all those events that are not defined big or large, such as the classifications proposed by Maurice Roche (2000) and Chito Guala (2002), as presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Typology of mega events after Roche (2000 p. 4)

Type of event	Examples	Target market	Media focus
Mega event	Expos, Olympics, FIFA World Cup	Global	Global media
Special event	Grand Prix F1, World Regional Sports (Asian Games, Pan American Games)	World region or national	Global or national media
Hallmark event	National Sports Event (Superbowl, Serie A, Bundesliga)	National	National or regional media
Community event	Local community events (food, art, music festivals)	Regional/local	Local media

According to Chito Guala (2002), big or large events differentiate between temporary mega and media events, mega-events, and different kinds of special events (sport, political, economic, cultural, and religious), and major permanent projects, such as those designed by archistars, as shown in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Proposed typology of major events

Event typology	Examples	Target market	Media focus
Mega/media events	Summer/Winter Olympics, World Cup final	Global	Live TV & media
Mega events	Expos	Global	TV & media
Sports events	Grand Prix F1, Americas Cup, Pan Am Games	Global & macro-regional	Live TV & media
Political events	Summits (G7/G8/G20), UN Climate Change	Global & macro-regional	TV & media
Economic events	Business Fairs (motorshows, Europflora, book fairs, fashion week)	International/national	TV & media
Cultural events	Film festivals, Cities of Culture, Tall Ships	Global	TV & media
Religious events	Catholic Jubilee, Hajj, Kumbh Mela	Global	TV & media
Grand projects	Alexanderplatz (Berlin), Millennium Dome (London), Guggenheim Bilbao, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong-Macau Bridge, Waterfront Redevelopments	Regional and national impact	TV & media

While these two classifications apply to most cases, this book also takes into account the recent definition of cultural mega-events, which specifically refers to the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) and other similar events (Jones 2020). This is due to the growing popularity that the ECoC has gained since its foundation in 1985 and the additional development of similar spinoff programs that have taken place at global regional scales as well as within single nations (as shown in Chapter 3 of this book). In other words, these are events that were born as small but that have become larger according to:

• their international organization;
• their growing relevance and their ‘appetibility’ for cities and regions; and
• the smaller size of their hosting cities and regions, in comparison with the Olympic, Expo, and FIFA World Cup.

In contrast to mega-events and the common preoccupation with major events in general, this volume addresses small and medium-sized events. Through a selection of worldwide case studies, this volume aims at analyzing and representing examples of these kinds of events, which could be everything not global (e.g., local, regional, macro-regional, national, international). These types of events range from the temporary to the periodic and are not only located in world cities and city-regions but also in small or medium-sized towns and regions. Accordingly, it aims at verifying if, and how, smaller events can really provide opportunities for cities and regions without the disadvantages of world-famous larger events, providing lessons for cultural, economic, social, and tourism development, as well as urban regeneration processes and related policy, planning, and studies.

Against the backdrop of these reflections, this book specifically aims at understanding whether smaller events are always successful. Even though they could be more sustainable in comparison with bigger events, specifically mega-events have made us learn about the ‘lights and shadows’ of their outcomes and legacies. Therefore, a first international analysis of small and medium-sized events’ effects (benefits or risks) seems necessary, and this is what this volume tries to do through its wide range of case studies.

On the occasion of studying smaller events, even in order to go beyond the world crisis of mega-events and to provide lessons that could be useful also for world-famous large events, this book finally aims at emphasizing the importance of taking into account not only the event requirements, or the demands for city and region branding, but especially the places’ needs. In this perspective, the book also aims to underline the role of ordinary urban policy, planning, and studies in order to manage these extraordinary but increasingly recurrent ephemeral phenomena.

While the scientific literature on larger events is vast and usually segmented into a number of topics (e.g., event organization and management; the effects on local culture and identity; the impacts on local economy, society, and tourism), the scientific literature on the urban policy, urban planning, and economic development roles of smaller events is still limited. For this reason, this is the urban studies’ niche that this book, its chapters, and their multi-disciplinary reflections try to target.

Besides the book Introduction, Chapter 2 Downsizing spectacle: the appeal of smaller events, by Mark Wilson (Michigan State University), places the book in the ongoing political and theoretical debate about contemporary events and their relations with host cities and regions.

Specifically, this chapter reflects the rationale for promoting smaller events from both the empirical and the theoretical point of view. This change in focus occurs against the backdrop of growing dissatisfaction with costly large-scale mega-events and the related public backlash against these sporting and cultural phenomena. Smaller events are more manageable and less costly, suggesting they are better able to serve local and regional residents while offering some visibility and community identity. Events that are less expensive, without huge facility and infrastructure investments, can be better integrated with local spaces while still being able to provide international visibility for hosting cities and regions, even when they are placed outside the main urban cores. Further, the chapter examines the benefits and costs of city and region’s downsizing their event aspirations and tries to identify the types of events that can serve the interests and needs of the host. At the same time, the chapter tries to verify the replicability of the theory and analysis used for mega-events to place smaller events in context, which are not only large cities in world city-regions but also minor towns in peripheral regions.

Chapter 3 Umbrellas, incubators, mothers, and killers: four types of relationship between cultural mega-events and small and micro events in heritage-rich European cities by Zachary Jones and Davide Ponzini (Politecnico di Milano) introduces and highlights one of the main issues of the book: the relationships between larger events and smaller events. In particular, this chapter explores the connection and impact between cultural mega-events and other small (and even micro) events held within European cities.

As with other types of large events, cities often turn to cultural mega- events for their perceived positive externalities, and with a desired legacy that leaves a long-term impact on the city. These events generally build up and establish strong cultural capital, as well as an associated network of actors and knowledge. Yet, how do these cultural mega-events and all of their ‘cultural infrastructures’ relate to and impact the existing local smaller events? The chapter presents and analyzes four found typologies of this interaction between cultural mega-events and small, localized (existing or newly created) events. The four typologies consist of Umbrellas, Incubators, Mothers, and Killers. Specifically, the chapter considers as cultural mega-event the European Capital of Culture (EcoC), since its program has become an important cultural policy implemented across Europe for more than 30 years. Its longevity and success have inspired the inception of other similar initiatives around the world, at both national and the transnational scale, including the UK City of Culture and Italian Capital of Culture, as well as the Arab Capital of Culture and Asian City of Culture.

On the one hand, Umbrella eve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• About the contributors
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Planning and managing smaller events
• 2 Downsizing spectacle: the appeal of smaller events
• 3 Umbrellas, incubators, mothers, and killers: four types of relationship between cultural mega-events and small and micro events in heritage-rich European cities
• 4 Start-ups, business investors, and the flow of music: contrasting two creative events in Helsinki, Finland
• 5 Culture-led small events in Italy: Milano Piano City and Mantova Festivaletteratura
• 6 The Conegliano Valdobbiadene European Wine City 2016: a promotional tool for the Prosecco region in Italy
• 7 Living off the Lutherland: thinking resourcefully about the 500th anniversary of the 1517 Protestant Reformation
• 8 Beyond the borders: lights and shadows of the German IBA’s model
• 9 Beyond the scene: rethinking event assessment at Montreal’s music festival
• 10 Dragon boat festivals: an international collection of events
• 11 City/Capital of Culture schemes in European medium-sized coastal cities: the cases of Hull (UK) and Pafos (Cyprus)
• 12 How mega-events can “fit small”? Connections, uncertainties, and planning perspectives
• Index