ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the role of urban tourism and mega-events as a strategy of urban development in Brazilian cities and focuses on the large-scale development projects which have been launched in Belo Horizonte (BH) in the run-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Mega-event related investments caused a number of negative social and structural impacts, as the detailed dossier on Mega-events and Human Rights Violations in Brazil shows. The Campo do Pitangui community has been struggling for over fifty years to achieve legitimization in the central area of BH. On Liberty Square until recently the state's historical administrative centre the heritage listed buildings were conceded to large conglomerates such as TIM, Banco do Brasil and the mining companies Vale and MMX. Paradigmatic changes in urban governance in Brazil have meant that city governments, including mid-sized metropolitan areas, have entered a fierce race among cities to become international business centres and tourism destinations.
