ABSTRACT
Large-scale international events and their associated urban strategies have become influential elements in the reconversion of planning over the last years. Spectacular, emblematic or flagship projects' linked to those events can be seen not only as part of place promotion and city marketing strategies, but also as catalysts of urban regeneration. Explicit branding policies related to these event projects' are not so different to those which are applied in other cases in which there is not a direct link to special events. The research referred to in this chapter forms part of a more extensive examination of planning and international expositions entitled Urbanismo de las Exposiciones Internacionales'. Only some scholars have been interested in the socioeconomic impact of the expos and almost none in the aspects concerning urban development and planning. The principal objective of the research is to analyse the genealogy and the characteristics of the current policies of image and urban regeneration that began in the nineteenth century.
