Browsed by
Category: Mega-events

Interview with SWI Swissinfo: Can Switzerland host a “sustainable” Olympics?

Interview with SWI Swissinfo: Can Switzerland host a “sustainable” Olympics?

I gave a quick interview to SWI swissinfo.ch on the feasibility of hosting a sustainable Winter Olympics here in Switzerland. The basic idea is to ditch the idea of a host city and go towards something like a host country. One advantage of this would be that you could use only existing infrastructures and eliminate new constructions, which is a great idea. This could only work in smaller and highly developed countries, and especially those with existing, reliable, and high…

Read More Read More

New Op-Ed: Updating the Olympic Charter is a dangerous game

New Op-Ed: Updating the Olympic Charter is a dangerous game

I feel weird about posting anything on Ex-Twitter nowadays. Truthfully I’m not overly comfortable with most of the self-promotion game, but I’m always grateful when someone else shares their work and even better if they share a bit of the self behind the name. So that’s what I try to do too, even though it feels unnecessarily egotistical. But now, in the death spiral of what used to be Twitter… god. I find it problematic to say the least. I…

Read More Read More

A quick look at my keynote in Mendrisio: mega-events and marginalities, substance and spectacle

A quick look at my keynote in Mendrisio: mega-events and marginalities, substance and spectacle

Earlier this month I was invited to give a keynote at a symposium in at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Mendrisio, called Marginal urbanities: The hidden face of planetary urbanisation. It was organized by Mosè Cometta and Giulia Scotto, two wonderful scholars who did a great job putting together the program. It was broad enough that we could all learn from each other’s perspectives but small enough to be intimate and personal. A tough balance, that. My keynote focused…

Read More Read More

Investigating mega-event host cities after the spotlight

Investigating mega-event host cities after the spotlight

My Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione project has officially begun! I’m now at the ETH Zurich, working with the SPUR group – Spatial Development and Urban Policy. This is a great interdisciplinary team and I am thrilled to be here. The interdisciplinary nature of the group means that I’m returning to a beginner mind in some situations. It’s a great feeling – albeit a little destabilizing sometimes – to encounter entirely new debates in bodies of literature I’ve never even…

Read More Read More

Interview: the (un)sustainability of the Olympic Games

Interview: the (un)sustainability of the Olympic Games

I had the opportunity to talk about mega-events and (un)sustainability, particularly in context with the upcoming Paris 2024 Games. The journalist, Théo Nepipvoda, gave me plenty of time and space, which is always a nice feeling. I thought that I would be a small contribution to an article, and didn’t know that it would end up as such a large interview, so that’s a pleasant surprise. Click here for the article. Merci Théo pour l’opportunité !

Russian athletes and sports during a time of war

Russian athletes and sports during a time of war

I really enjoy speaking with Sportschau, which I think is the most influential sports program on German television. To their credit, they feature the work of Robert Kempe, who does great work on sports and politics, and who pursues difficult stories with nuance and integrity. It’s a hard combo but I think he does it admirably. In this segment, he investigates the impossible situation of having Russian and Belarusian athletes participating in global sport while the Russian state pursues its…

Read More Read More

Ambizione project: After the spotlight of hosting mega-events

Ambizione project: After the spotlight of hosting mega-events

As I wrote in my summary of 2022, I was fortunate enough to win a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant last year. I am overjoyed, and deeply grateful that I’ve been entrusted to bring this project to life. It’s called “After the spotlight: Sustainable urban development and geopolitical legacies in former mega-event cities.” The problem is that mega-events like the Olympics and the Football World Cup have dramatic impacts on cities and societies. Typically, organizing authorities promise infrastructural, political,…

Read More Read More

New article: Building a better host city? Reforming and contesting the Olympics in Paris 2024

New article: Building a better host city? Reforming and contesting the Olympics in Paris 2024

I’m very happy with this article. It came out a while ago but I haven’t written about it until now, except for this Twitter thread. The general idea is to explore the implications of the New Norm Olympic reforms as played out on the ground in Paris. This is one of the publications I promised as part of my postdoc project at the University of Lausanne. That project is now very nearly concluded, so it’s time to take stock of…

Read More Read More

The Hard Edge of Soft Power: My keynote at the (Il)liberal Nation Projection symposium

The Hard Edge of Soft Power: My keynote at the (Il)liberal Nation Projection symposium

Vitaly Kazakov at the University of Manchester invited me to give one of the keynotes at a symposium he organized. Over two intense and enjoyable days, we explored various national projection strategies from illiberal and democratic states across different contexts, channels, and platforms. It was interdisciplinary, relevant, and exciting. A real honor to attend. I wrote a short twitter thread about it: My keynote explored the uncomfortable connections between the Russian mega-event decade and the war in Ukraine. Here’s a…

Read More Read More

Play the Game – a new and refreshing kind of conference

Play the Game – a new and refreshing kind of conference

I’ve heard of Play the Game, of course, because most of my critical sports friends and colleagues have participated at one time or another. I also contributed a commentary for a series on Protest and the Games organized by Dennis Pauschinger and John Lauermann, where I wrote about the challenges of protesting mega-events in Russia. But until now, I’d never attended the actual conference. This time, I spoke about the uncomfortable intersections between sport and war, in a talk called…

Read More Read More