ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the multiple ways in which cities, especially those hosting mega-events, transform their world image by altering their mental representation, physical aspect and social environment. It investigates how diverse population groups have reacted to diverse image-construction initiatives, and details some of the tactics devised by local citizens to challenge ill-advised decision-makers, to contest discriminatory measures, to undermine top-down image-construction efforts and to hijack the event spectacle. The chapter discusses the many factors that impede the formation of efficient collective resistance movements and thus limit organized opposition to event-led urban image construction. It concerns the micro-political dynamics of contestations and centres on smaller-scale, individually based strategies that include creative forms of resistance and denunciation. The chapter examines virtual forms of resistance that use social networks and the worldwide web to circulate information, denounce abusive practices and exert pressure upon event organizers and local governments.
