ABSTRACT
Over the last twenty years the critical debate on mega-events has intensified significantly (Girginov, 2013; Gold and Gold, 2011; Lenskyj and Wagg, 2012). Mega-events have become a popular object of research in urban and regional studies. However, not all research reflects adequately on the theoretical. The growing interest is linked to the acknowledgement, often uncritically, of a positive role of mega-events in urban and territorial policies, as catalysts and accelerators of urban change and renewal (Essex and Chalkley, 1998). This positive expectation stems from the presentation of success stories often celebrated at international level, to the extent that they have imposed themselves as “good practices”. In fact, event organizers regularly attempt to overstate the positive impact and underrate the negative effects (Sandy et al, 2004), even if there is a large series of failures and behind the “lights” of the success stories more than a few shadows are hidden, related to gentrification, social exclusion and displacement, environmental destruction, social conflicts (Cashman, 2010; Dansero et al., 2011; Essex and Chalkley, 2004; Hayes and Karamichas, 2011; Hiller, 2000; Lenskyj, 2002; Spilling, 1998) and ‘huge sunk costs’ (Davidson and McNeill, 2012: 1626).
