Rio de Janeiro and the mega-event development strategy (Reading 21, Gaffney)30 November 2012
Maracanã:
• Inaugurated 1950 (world-cup soccer stadium)
• 179,000 capacity, 200,000 record attendance
• “Most democratic stadium in the world” because of its general admission area
• 2007 Pan American Games: 85,000
• 2014 World Cup: 75,000
• Privatization (might be turned over soon to companies)
• Event lead development
• Had to conform to what soccer stadium should look like (FIFA standards)
• VIP BOXES got implement, most of the population cant afford them
• Rules being set by outside then the gov
Mega-event led development
• Public investment, private gain (leads to debt)
• Democracy (shock doctrine, bypass all sorts of rules)
• Job creation? (promised but doesn’t always occur)
• White elephants (the facilities you must have for certain sports for the Olympics, they stay
empty after and unused)
• Planning by state of emergency
• 1/3 of population lives in informal sector, which this has no benefit towards
• Olympics patents certain words, and tourism goes down
• Rio’s Olympic “sportive constellation” map of where all the stadium will be. Needs rapid
transport (cheaper) buses that act like subways, have one lane for them, high capacity, very fashionable,
relocation of everything
David Harvey: Accumulation by Dispossession
• Accumulation by expanded reproduction: capital purchases product process takes place, profit is
reinvested • Primitive Accumulation (non-violent)
• Enclosure of the commons (big violent, people pushed out of agriculture, forced labor)
• Privatization
• Commodification
• Disposed: like privatizing health care through state power
Mega Events and the Favela Problem: What is the point
• Neoliberal needs such as tourism
• Corporations would like to come
• Changi
More
Less
