CHAIRPERSON
Assoc Prof Daniel PS Goh, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore
ABSTRACT
The Olympics play a unique global role in the contemporary era as a multi-sport spectacle with broad international participation involving athletes, spectators, and huge mediated audiences. Increasingly, however, the Olympics has become less about this international focus and more about the search for cities to host the Games as public opinion at the local level has found the idea of hosting this mega-event as problematic. The shift from elite decision-making to more democratic decision-making about hosting the Games is reflected in the fact that local residents view hosting as a policy choice which is controversial. This talk will explore the reasons and consequences for this shift at the local level, the role and significance of the Olympics for cities and their residents, as well as the implications for the future of the Olympic phenomenon.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Harry H. Hiller is Director of the Cities and the Olympics Project and Faculty Professor of Urban Sociology at the University of Calgary in Canada. His professional interest in the Olympics began when Calgary hosted the Winter Games in 1988 where he observed how the city and its residents were impacted by the Olympics – a previously neglected topic which shifted the analysis away from athletes and sport. His research on the theme of the Olympics as an urban phenomenon has continued since that time and his work has been published in a variety of journals such as International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Sociology, and Urban Affairs Review. A frequent speaker at conferences and academic forums around the world and especially in bid cities and cities awarded the Games, Hiller has also been a participant in the meetings of the World Union of Olympic Cities. His book which lays out his approach is entitled Host Cities and the Olympics: An Interactionist Perspective (Routledge).
REGISTRATION
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