Christoph Haferburg

Festivalisation and urban renewal in the Global South: socio-spatial consequences of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Sports mega events increasingly take place in the metropolises of emerging economies. As a city-marketing tool, these events are said to make the host cities more visible in the international competition for foreign and domestic investments. Infrastructural upgrades and fast tracking of urban development projects, as well as giving focus and legitimation to urban policy makers, are supposedly the further benefits of hosting mega events. This recalls the ‘Festivalisation of Urban Policy’ hypothesis by Häußermann and Siebel, which describes the instrumentalisation of large-scale cultural and sports events to support image building and to catalyse urban development in European and US cities. Given that socio-economically very heterogeneous nations increasingly host these events, it is necessary to extend the debate and to investigate whether the political, economic and social effects in these countries of the Global South – conventionally labelled as the developing world – can be explained with the festivalisation hypothesis: Are the urban development effects qualitatively comparable and, if so, are they more strongly or weakly pronounced than in the Global North? The 2010 International Federation of Football Association World Cup in South Africa is a fitting example to explore the characteristics and dynamics of mega events in the host cities of the Global South.

South Africa under FIFA's reign: The World Cup's contribution to urban development

When South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the move to stage this mega-event at the southern tip of the African continent was lauded as a timely acknowledgement of the growing importance of the ‘global south’. Most of the fears that had been raised before the kick-off proved immaterial once the event was under way. Nine host cities enjoyed the international spotlight; the new and revamped stadiums were the focus of the media. Behind the scenes, however, more infrastructure had to be created, locational decisions taken and structures of governance honed. That this process was thoroughly influenced by FIFAs wishes can be demonstrated by focusing on a few strategic elements, such as the site selection for stadiums and fan parks. The findings in this article sustain the dominant argument in mega-event research: urban development and governance in the host cities are severely affected by these events.

Von Joburg nach Gauteng: Transformation der City of Gold zur Global City Region?

Zusammenfassung Johannesburg wird in der World- und Global-City-Forschung zumeist als einzige Metropole Afrikas mit globaler Bedeutung eingeordnet. Die Agglomeration verdankt ihre Existenz der internationalen Kapitalinvestition in den Goldbergbau, war aber in ihrer 130jährigen Geschichte vielfachen Transformationen unterworfen. Seit dem Ende der Apartheid bestimmen globale Einbindung, Tertiärisierung sowie Flächen- und Bevölkerungswachstum das Bild. Der vorliegende Text analysiert sowohl die Verflechtungen mit und Abhängigkeiten von globalen Dynamiken als auch die Persistenzen und Veränderungen der national und lokal angelegten urbanen Entwicklungspfade. Ausgangspunkt sind die Global-City- bzw. Global-City-Region- und Global-Value-Chain-Debatten, inklusive der darauf bezogenen Kritik. Die Verschiebung der Perspektive von Johannesburg auf Gauteng als global eingebundene „Megaregion“ bildet die empirische Rückbindung.

Sozio-ökonomische Komplexität Südafrikas

Wenn man Sudafrika „von ausen“ betrachtet, d.h. aus einer Perspektive, die viele der Details, Routinen, Verwerfungen und Strukturen dieses Landes nicht verinnerlicht hat bzw. nicht in langjahriger alltagsweltlicher Erfahrung internalisiert hat, und versucht, es mit den etablierten gesellschaftswissenschaftlichen Konzepten des „politischen Nordens“ zu analysieren, dann wird eine Vielzahl von Deutungsschwierigkeiten deutlich: Sozio-okonomische Merkmale wie Einkommen und Bildung werden hier teilweise von den alten Apartheidkategorien (die man verkurzt und nicht ganz zutreffend als „rassische“ oder „ethnische“ Einteilungen beschreiben konnte) begleitet bzw. uberlagert. Das Fortwirken dieser Kategorien auf dem Arbeitsmarkt, aber auch z.T. in Wohnquartieren oder bei „frei“ gewahlten sozialen Interaktionen in Peer-Groups erfordert neue sozialtheoretische Reflektionen (vgl. Chipkin 2007) – weder die „multikulturellen“ Ansatze noch postkoloniale oder auch postmoderne Interpretationen scheinen diese Gesellschaft wirklich erklaren zu konnen, und grundlegendere Struktur- oder Handlungstheorien sind als Produkte eines „verwestlichten“ Blicks auf die Welt ohnehin in der Kritik (vgl. Connell 2007, Comaroff und Comaroff 2011).

Building the inclusive city: Theory and practice for confronting urban segregation, by Nilson Ariel Espino

campaigned vigorously to enhance the flight opportunities from their airports. Further, I would question Bloom’s claim that the Port Authority’s use of combined figures from the three New York airports to demonstrate traffic levels highlights the city’s decline in the U.S. air travel hierarchy. Not having the single busiest airport might indeed rob New York City of certain bragging rights, but neither Atlanta nor Chicago (O’Hare and Midway) nor Los Angeles (even combining figures from the several airports in the metropolitan area) can claim the same number of overall air travelers as can New York City. It is hard to see that as decline. And the author’s focus on JFK often leads him to lose sight of the fact that it is part of a system of airports serving the New York metropolitan region. Although he sometimes makes references to LaGuardia and Newark, it seems that he often views them more as outside competitors to JFK rather than as potentially complementary parts of a larger airport system. While the book would have benefited from a clearer overall thesis and deeper engagement in the secondary literature on airports, it does begin to explore the role of JFK in the New York City metropolitan area. It captures, in particular, the environmental challenges created by airport operations. It raises a number of important questions concerning the relationship between airports and the cities they serve, questions that may inspire future, more detailed examination.

Building the inclusive city: Theory and practice for confronting urban segregation, by Nilson Ariel Espino: Abingdon, UK, Routledge, 2015

campaigned vigorously to enhance the flight opportunities from their airports. Further, I would question Bloom’s claim that the Port Authority’s use of combined figures from the three New York airports to demonstrate traffic levels highlights the city’s decline in the U.S. air travel hierarchy. Not having the single busiest airport might indeed rob New York City of certain bragging rights, but neither Atlanta nor Chicago (O’Hare and Midway) nor Los Angeles (even combining figures from the several airports in the metropolitan area) can claim the same number of overall air travelers as can New York City. It is hard to see that as decline. And the author’s focus on JFK often leads him to lose sight of the fact that it is part of a system of airports serving the New York metropolitan region. Although he sometimes makes references to LaGuardia and Newark, it seems that he often views them more as outside competitors to JFK rather than as potentially complementary parts of a larger airport system. While the book would have benefited from a clearer overall thesis and deeper engagement in the secondary literature on airports, it does begin to explore the role of JFK in the New York City metropolitan area. It captures, in particular, the environmental challenges created by airport operations. It raises a number of important questions concerning the relationship between airports and the cities they serve, questions that may inspire future, more detailed examination.

Nilson Ariel Espino, Building the Inclusive City: Theory and Practice for Confronting Urban Segregation (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2015).

campaigned vigorously to enhance the flight opportunities from their airports. Further, I would question Bloom’s claim that the Port Authority’s use of combined figures from the three New York airports to demonstrate traffic levels highlights the city’s decline in the U.S. air travel hierarchy. Not having the single busiest airport might indeed rob New York City of certain bragging rights, but neither Atlanta nor Chicago (O’Hare and Midway) nor Los Angeles (even combining figures from the several airports in the metropolitan area) can claim the same number of overall air travelers as can New York City. It is hard to see that as decline. And the author’s focus on JFK often leads him to lose sight of the fact that it is part of a system of airports serving the New York metropolitan region. Although he sometimes makes references to LaGuardia and Newark, it seems that he often views them more as outside competitors to JFK rather than as potentially complementary parts of a larger airport system. While the book would have benefited from a clearer overall thesis and deeper engagement in the secondary literature on airports, it does begin to explore the role of JFK in the New York City metropolitan area. It captures, in particular, the environmental challenges created by airport operations. It raises a number of important questions concerning the relationship between airports and the cities they serve, questions that may inspire future, more detailed examination.