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Political Science City Planning & Urban Development

Indy Dreams and Urban Nightmares

Speed Merchants, Spectacle, and the Struggle over Public Space in The World Class City

by (author) Mark Douglas Lowes

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2002
Category
City Planning & Urban Development, Urban
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802084989
    Publish Date
    May 2002
    List Price
    $38.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802036728
    Publish Date
    May 2002
    List Price
    $69.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442670228
    Publish Date
    Apr 2002
    List Price
    $77.00

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Description

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 the author

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

Mark Douglas Lowes' profile page