Mega-events and Urban Image Construction: Beijing and Rio de Janeiro

While societies shape the way their cities look and are represented, urban images, in turn, nurture and structure social relations in multiple ways. Nowhere is this dialectical relationship between social processes and urban representations more visible than in the hosting of global spectacles such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, which both embody some of society’s deepest dreams and desires.

The focus of this book is the image of cities. It is not only interested in the mechani...