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This book offers a comparative study of state strategies in relation to urban redevelopment projects associated with sports mega-events in Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It examines urban governance strategies employed to dispossess working-class communities of their land and counteract the subsequent emergence of discontent in various national contexts, offering an intricate analysis of the mechanisms of class dominance operating across diverse regions of the globe. This is based on the application of Gramscian theory concerning the capitalist state and its fluid interplay between coercion and consent. Juxtaposing historical trajectories in the execution of redevelopment initiatives linked to large-scale sporting events, the book offers an in-depth examination of the state-civil society relations shaping the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Parks, alongside the regeneration initiatives concerning the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro and the Ellis Park stadiumin Johannesburg - respectively earmarked for the 2014 and 2010 FIFA World Cups. Drawing on insights from a range of disciplines and an explicitly Gramscian analytical framework, this book will appeal to students and scholars in urban planning, sport sociology, development studies, and human geography.
List of contents
Enabling Urban Governance Comparisons.- The Hegemonic Strength of the London Olympic Park project.- The Hegemonic Weakness of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park project.- The Failure of the Ellis Park Development Project in Johannesburg.- The Failure of the Maracanã Project in Rio de Janeiro.- The Historical Constraints on Hegemonic Constructio.- The Semiperipheral Domination Complex.
About the author
Erick Omena is a lecturer at the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning and Research/ Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. He has a PhD in Spatial Planning and Urban Politics awarded by Oxford Brookes University. His research interests focus on the interface of social theory, urban planning and political economy
Report
"The Games of Land Dispossession is a notable contribution to the literature on mega-events, urban regeneration, and comparative urbanism. The way that it foregrounds the land question reinforces calls for change and critiques to the way large-scale sports events impact our cities. It also provides an important reference to researchers interested in the recent development activities in the three cities depicted in the book as well to the scholarship engaged in critical comparative urban analysis." (Gabriel Silvestre, City, Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action, February 13, 2025)
