Indy Dreams and Urban Nightmares: Speed Merchants, Spectacle, and the Struggle over Public Space in The World Class City - Softcover

Lowes, Mark Douglas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802084982 ISBN 13: 9780802084989

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2002

Synopsis

What role do sporting spectacles play in the making of a 'world-class' city?Indy Dreams and Urban Nightmares reports on the conflict that arose between a Vancouver community and the civic boosters who wanted to move the Molson Indy Vancouver motorsport event to their neighbourhood park. Arguing that such events are simply a matter of economic and cultural 'common sense', the civic boosters promoted the Indy spectacle as a means of gaining 'world-class' status for the city.

Against this background, Lowes explores the complex relations among major league sport, urban landscape, and civic identity. He argues that the capacity to articulate a city's 'vision' for itself is an important manifestation of power and ideology, and a notable point of struggle in contemporary urban life. This encompasses much larger issues related to the struggle over urban public space and the legitimacy of a particular narrative of urban growth and civic identity - one that increasingly privileges the consumer over the citizen. Provocative and engaging, this study examines the impact of major sports events on urban centres, and shows how urban public culture is defined and shaped by competition for the right to conceptualize, control, and experience a city's public spaces.

About this title

About the Author:

Mark Douglas Lowes is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0802084982
• ISBN 13: 9780802084989
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 140