From Fan Parks to Live Sites: Mega events and the territorialisation of urban space

Abstract

This article draws on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to consider the phenomenon of Live Sites and Fan Parks which are now enshrined within the viewing experience of mega sports events. Empirically, the article draws upon primary research on Live Sites generated during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Live Sites are represented as new spaces within which to critically locate and conceptually explore the shifting dynamics of urban space, subjectivity and its performative politic. The authors argue that the first, or primary, spaces of mega sporting events (the official venues) and their secondary counterparts (Live Sites) simply extend brandscaping tendencies but that corporate striation is always incomplete, opening up possibilities for disruption and dislocation.

Keywords

corporate striation cultural consumption deterritorialisation mega sports events urban space

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andersson

Getz

(2007) Stakeholder management strategies of festivals. Journal of Convention and Event Tourism 9(3): 199–220.

Bryman

(2004) The Disneyization of Society. London: Sage.

Chalip

(2006) Towards social leverage of sport events. Journal of Sport & Tourism 11(2): 109–127.

Commission for Sustainable London (2012) London 2012: Vision to Reality. London: City Hall.

Cornelissen

(2011) Mega event securitisation in a Third World setting: Glocal processes and ramifications during the 2012 FIFA World Cup. Urban Studies 48(15): 3221–3240.

Deleuze

Guattari

(1987) A Thousand Plateaus. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

De-territorialisation Support Group (2011) Ten growth markets for crisis: A trend forecast. Available at: http://deterritorialsupportgroup.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/growth-markets_19.pdf (accessed 12 December 2011).

Eick

(2010) A neoliberal sports event? FIFA from the Estadio Nacional to the fan mile. City 14(3): 278–297.

Flick

(1999) An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

10.

Foley

McGillivray

McPherson

(2011) Event Policy: From Theory to Strategy. London: Routledge.

11.

Foucault

(1977) Theatrum philosophicum. In: Bouchard

(ed.) Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews by Michel Foucault. New York: Cornel University Press, pp. 165–196.

12.

Foucault

(1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977. Brighton: Harvester.

13.

Foucault

(1982) The subject and power. In: Dreyfus

Rabinow

(eds.) Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 208–226.

14.

Frew

McGillivray

(2008) Exploring hyper-experiences: Performing the fan at Germany 2006. Journal of Sport & Tourism 13(3): 1–18.

15.

Gallop

(2012) Broadcasting revolution of the digital Olympics. In: BBC Sport. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2012/08/record_breaking_viewing_figure.html (accessed 23 August 2012).

16.

Getz

(2007) Event Studies: Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events. London: Elsevier.

17.

Gotham

(2005) Theorizing Urban Spectacles. City 9(2): 225–246.

18.

Hands

(2011) @ is for Activism. London: Pluto Press.

19.

Hiller

(2012) Host Cities and the Olympics: An Interactionist Approach. London: Routledge.

20.

Horne

Whannel

(2010) The ‘caged torch procession’: Celebrities, protestors and the 2008 Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco. Society in Sport 13(5): 760–770.

21.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) (2005) Technical manual on ceremonies. Available at: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/files/Technical_Manual_on_Ceremonies.pdf.

22.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) (2012) Marketing report: London 2012. Available at: http://www.olympic.org/Documents/IOC_Marketing/London_2012/LR_IOC_MarketingReport_medium_res1.pdf.

23.

Jordan

(1995) Collective bodies: Raving and the politics of Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Body & Society 1(1): 125–144.

24.

Kellner

(2013) Media Spectacle and Insurrection, 2011: From the Arab Uprisings to Occupy Everywhere. New York: Bloomsbury.

25.

Klingmann

(2007) Brandscapes: Architecture in the Experience Economy. London: MIT Press.

26.

Legg

(2009) Assemblage/apparatus: Using Deleuze and Foucault. Area 43(2): 128–133.

27.

Lysen

Pisters

(2012) Introduction: The smooth and the striated. Deleuze Studies 6(1): 1–5.

28.

McGillivray

(2011) Mixed reality at mega events: Bringing the games to you? Culture @ the Olympics: Issues, Trends, and Perspectives 13(3): 20–24.

29.

Miah

Garcia

(2012) The Olympics: The Basics. London: Routledge.

30.

Morozov

(2011) The Net Delusion. London: Penguin Books.

31.

Nunes

(1999) Virtual topographies: Smooth and striated cyberspace. In: Ryan

M-L

(ed.) Cyberspace Textuality. Bloomington: Indiana UP, pp.61–77.

32.

Pavoni

(2010) Erasing space from places: Brandscapes, art and the (de)valorisation of the Olympic space. Explorations in Space and Society 18: December: 9–13.

33.

Ritzer

(2008) The McDonaldization of Society (5th ed). London: Pine Forge.

34.

Roche

(2000) Mega-events and Modernity: Olympics and Expos in the Growth of Global Culture. London: Routledge.

35.

Roche

(2003) Mega events, time and modernity: On time structures in global society. Time & Society 12(1): 99–126.

36.

Rojek

(2005) Leisure Theory: Principles and Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

37.

Rojek

(2013) Event Power: How Global Events Manage and Manipulate. London: Sage.

38.

Schechner

(1995) The Future of Ritual: Writings on Culture and Performance. London: Routledge.

39.

Sim

(1998) Post-Marxism: A Reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

40.

Solis

(2012) Meet generation C: The connected customer. Available at: http://pandodaily.com/2012/03/06/meet-generation-c-the-connected-customer/ (accessed 7 March 2012).

41.

Stevens

Dovey

(2004) Appropriating the spectacle: Play and politics in a leisure landscape. Journal of Urban Design 9(3): 351–365.

42.

Stevenson

(2003) Cities and Urban Cultures. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

43.

Toohey

Veal

(2008) The Olympic Games: A Social Science Perspective. Oxford: CABI.

44.

Vasudevan

(2013) Reclaiming life in the precarious city. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/alex-vasudevan/reclaiming-life-in-precarious-city (accessed 25 March 2013).

45.

Weymouth and Portland Council (2013) Summary of Weymouth and Portland Local 2012 Operations. Dorset: Weymouth and Portland Council.