ABSTRACT
The introduction presents the two main arguments of the book: cultural mega-events as a distinct phenomenon significantly impacting cities and that these events (and other types of mega-events) present a number of opportunities and threats for heritage. While existing literature has well documented and studied a range of socio-economic effects of events, built heritage has largely been left unconsidered, despite the many potential opportunities and risks that mega-events present. The growing popularity of cultural mega-events, as well as changes in events like the Olympics, present an increasing and urgent need to better study and understand the consequences of heritage-rich cities hosting large events. The introductory chapter presents the overall framework and introduces one of the key issues to be discussed throughout the book, the physical and spatial relationship between mega-events and the cities that host them. The chapter defines four types of relationships: diffused spread, urban nodes, anchored platform and satellite platform. The differences in these four types greatly affects the overlap of events and built heritage as well as helps to establish similarities between differing types of mega-events.
