Impact of Major Sporting Events on Host Communities Essay

Impact of Major Sporting Events on Host Communities - Essay Example 2010). Thus, this essay critically evaluates whether major sport events are of major benefit to the host city, region, or country. Social Impacts Tourism research has presented a wide array of proof that major sport events can have negative and positive impacts on a host city. Several of the positive outcomes concern economic gain or national honour and high spirits among citizens. This national honour leads to the ‘psychic income’ related to hosting a major event (Gratton & Henry 2001, 32). Moreover, major sporting events have been said to introduce nations to new knowledge and lead to a liberalisation of ideals in closed societies. As a worldwide event, sport draws active involvement and mass viewership, both creating the sub-cultural features of such sport (Gratton & Henry 2001). Commonly, scholars give much attention to the economic effects of major sporting events, thus studies in this field is scarce. According to Hall (1992), social impacts is â€Å"the manner in which tourism and travel affect changes in the collective and individual value systems, behaviour patterns, community structures, lifestyle and quality of life† (as cited in Robinson et al. 2011, 155). ... Recently, there has been an increasing attention given to the social gains of major sporting events for societies. The investigation of Waitt (2003) on the social outcomes of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 reported that in spite of disapproving outlooks and objections to the prelude to the event, all through the event there was â€Å"a reason to celebrate rather than protest† (as cited in Pedersen et al. 2010, 238) and citizens disclosed a heightened feeling of national pride. Likewise, Kim and Petrick (2005 as cited in Pedersen et al. 2010, 238), in an investigation of the South Korea FIFA World Cup in 2002, discovered that even though the passion does appear to ebb after the sport event, it does not fade entirely. A further social gain of major sporting events for hosting societies is the gift of urban restoration. In fact, hosting the 1987 America’s Cup has been recognised as the driving mechanism for the reconstruction of the metropolitan zone in Fremantle, Austra lia. It has been discovered that the apprehensions about severe traffic jams and overcrowding were groundless (Pedersen et al. 2010). Rather, as stated by Pedersen and colleagues (2010), citizens believed that development in infrastructures and opportunity for improved tourism would further enhance the better standard of living in the period after the event. Nevertheless, positive impacts may not constantly stem from major sporting events. According to Higham (1999 as cited in Hinch & Higham 2011, 55), some of the negative outcomes of sport events are interruptions to traditional lifestyle, displacement of local communities, and congestion. Hall and Hodges (1996 as cited

Informal housing in Caracas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Informal housing in Caracas - Essay Example 552). The processes of globalization have generated a distinct pattern of spatial urban organization that is typified by people’s segregation in the extension informal settlements. Urban restructuring has led to rising metropolitan fragmentation and increased socio-territorial inequality (Peters, 2008, p. 1). This paper explains the way globalization has changed the production of housing in Caracas. In spite of being located in the most urbanized and the wealthiest country of Latin America, Caracas accommodates numerous rancho settlements that are distributed all across the city. These settlements are characterized by invasions of squatter land. Disinvolvement of the government has perpetuated self-help housing techniques in Caracas. The aspects of informal housing in Caracas discussed in this paper include regulation of informal housing, housing production, exchange and consumption in the barrios of Caracas, the influence of globalization on housing, and the role of different actors in the developmental process. Informal housing in Caracas is quite politicized, with the demand exceeding the supply. Commodity forms dominate the production, exchange, and consumption of the informal settlements in Caracas. Globalization caused political and economic restructuring thus altering the metropolis’s fabric. Slum upgrading and microcredit are some of the factors that have played a role in the development of housing in Caracas. The mobilized and generated type of squatting is the most common in Latin America. Development of the informal housing in Latin America engages the political organizations. The state is somehow involved in the process. Informal housing in Latin America is quite politicized. The squatter communities are collectively involved in the process of settlement development and shelter acquisition. Such