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| THE IMPACT OF OLYMPIC GAMES ON CITIES' ECONOMY |
| LU Qi1, ZHU Xiao-zhou2 |
1. International Shipping Department, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 200136, China;
2. International Finance Department, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China |
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Abstract The paper mainly discusses the modern Olympic Games' impact on city's economics. The essay uses different examples of different times as well as the expectation of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to illustrate that the increasing competition between cites to host the Games is part of the growing competition between world cities for global spectacles.
There are many relationships between world cities and the Summer Olympic Games. Bidding and hosting the Olympic Games involve a rewriting and reshaping of the city. The Games provide an important platform for place marketing as cities seek to achieve international recognition and world city status.
The biggest winners of the Olympic windfall are the political regimes running the city that have the opportunity to reshape the city's desired image. The positive image presented is one of modernity and multiculturalism, part of the shared global discourses of democracy and liberalism while also adding a touch of the uniquely local. A distinctive place connected to a shared global space. A local and global package is presented that plays to connections and distinctiveness, space and place.
As for the creating a global city, or at least the image of the global city, the re are more subtle place-specific discourses. Thus for Seoul, it was the opening of the city and economy to the outside world; for Barcelona and Atlanta, regional economic development was important; while international positioning of the city was a key element in the Sydney Games.
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Received: 18 April 2005
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2005, Vol. 20 
