ABSTRACT
Living in Vancouver, in the midst of all the 2010 Olympic-hype, we were intuitively drawn to the human and financial investment dedicated to projecting an image of active and healthy citizenship to the watching world. The combination of our personal and professional interests and expertise in human action and social change led us to theoretically and empirically examine the impact of this high-profile sport event on local identities. In approaching our research at the time, we were aware that the sport mega-event literature had discussed the extent to which hosting an internationally recognized event alters not only the material or built environment of local communities (e.g., with the construction of new infrastructure) but also the immaterial or ideological notion of citizenship (e.g., with the establishment of new social, economic policies and political agenda) for those living in the area (Burbank et al., 2002; Harvey, 1989). We recognized that the short-term ornamentation of former local communities has had permanent effects for both host cities and the bodies embroiled in the mix – processes that become difficult to reverse once written into legislation and rendered in stone, steel, glass and cemented into the urban consciousness. Given our engagement with this literature, we retreated to classical urban theories often echoed within more contemporary studies and, in particular, were inspired by the ideas put forth by Robert Park nearly a century ago (see, for example, Park 1929, 1967 and Park et al., 1984). In his analysis of human nature and social life under the modern city condition, Park argued that more than a physical thing or artificial construction, cities are a state of mind. To Park, in making cities, inhabitants inevitably (re)made themselves: That is, the relation to sentience, the technologies deemed necessary, and the aesthetic tendencies valued are (re)made in our construction of urban life. In engaging with his work, we started to consider opportunities to empirically observe the ways in which the urban environment mediates certain ideologies in relation to citizenship. And, more pointedly, the ideologies related to citizenship and health.
