I was recently invited to participate in a workshop on Protest and Resistance in the Tourist City. The workshop was enerously hosted by Berlin Technical University’s Center for Metropolitan Studies, and funded by the German Research Foundation. The event brought togeter an international group of scholars who are contributing to an eponymous book project (Routledge, expected publication in 2016).
My paper on Politics as early as possible: democratising Olympics by contesting Olympic bids explores the politics of urban social movements which protest Olympic bids. Others have presented excellent research on activist movements in Olympic host cities and movements that lobby for reform in the international Olympic movement, but relatively less is known about political contestation over Olympic planning at the earliest stages of bidding. My argument is that (1) anti-bid movements are becoming increasingly common and effective (e.g. contributing to the demise of bids in five European bidders for the 2022 Winter Games) and (2) they engage in a different type of politics by asking ‘big picture’ questions about why a city should host an Olympics in the first place (rather than how to reform the planning process, as movements do after a bid has been awarded).
Meeting between workshop contributors and municipal officials; Kreuzberg, Berlin
The conference paper is a working draft of the book chapter. I will periodically update the attached file as the chapter is revised.