Mechanisms of policy failure: Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid

Eva Kassens-Noor and John Lauermann
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Eva Kassens-Noor: Michigan State University, USA
John Lauermann: City University of New York, USA

Urban Studies, 2018, vol. 55, issue 15, 3369-3384

Abstract: Planning for mega-events such as the Olympics is at a turning point. There has been a power shift in the relationship between cities and the International Olympic Committee towards the former. This shift is based on the emergence of anti-bid opposition movements; the increasing complexity of bidding; demands for locally relevant legacies; and a changing political economic relationship between citizens, city governments and sports federations. Our paper draws on a long-term study of Boston’s failed bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, based on an ethnography within the bidding corporation and interviews with pro- and anti-bid stakeholders. We lay out the reasons why the Boston bid failed, and conclude that bid failure involves factors that work against elitist powers and towards democratic beneficiaries.

Keywords: decision-making; mega-event; Olympic; policy failure; urban politics; 决策; 大型活动; 奥è¿; 政策失败; 城市政治 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:55:y:2018:i:15:p:3369-3384

DOI: 10.1177/0042098017740286

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