Sport In The City

Sport is seen as an increasingly important aspect of urban and regional planning. Related programmes have moved to the forefront of agendas for cities of the present and future. This has occurred as the barriers between so-called ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture continue to disintegrate. Sport is now a key component within strategies for the cultural regeneration of cities and regions, a tendency with mixed outcomes - at times fostering genuinely democratic arrangements, at others pseudo-democratic arrangements, whereby political, business and cultural elites manipulate a sense of sameness and unity among their fellow citizens to smooth the path for the pursuit of what are actually vested interests. Almost any active enactment of a ‘sports city of culture’ risks divisiveness. Recognizing controversies, with both potentially positive and negative outcomes, this book examines sport within contexts of urban and regional regeneration, via a number of rather different case studies. Within these studies, the role of sport stadium development, franchise expansion and sports-fan (and anti-sport) activism is addressed and articulated with issues concerning, inter alia, public funding, environmental impact, urban infrastructure and citizen identity. The ‘sport in the city’ project commenced as a research symposium held at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and number of the essays originate from this occasion. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Cities now seek to attract major sporting events and activities to re-image themselves, and frequently invest in community sports development to fund economic growth and regeneration. Including a range of case-studies from global (the Sydney Olympics) to local (urban school sports), this book looks closely at how sport has been used in contemporary cities across the world, and evaluates policies, strategies and managment. Five key areas are examined: * sport and urban economic regeneration * sports events: bidding * planning and organization * Urban Sports tourism * Sport and urban community development * Urban politics and sports policy. Sport in the City therefore represents an essential resource for urban policy makers and the sports policy community. It will be invaluable reading for sports studies students and urban geographers.

HERITAGE TORONTO 2022 BOOK AWARD NOMINEE From basketball hoops to cricket bats, the role community sports play in our cities and how crucial they are to diversity and inclusion. “The virus exposed how we live and work. It also revealed how we play, and what we lose when we have to stop.” For every kid who makes it to the NBA, thousands more seek out the pleasure and camaraderie of pick-up basketball in their local community centre or neighbourhood park. It’s a story that plays out in sport after sport – team and individual, youth and adult, men's and women's. While the dazzle of pro athletes may command our attention, grassroots sports build the bridges that link city-dwellers together in ways that go well beyond the physical benefits. The pandemic and heightened awareness of racial exclusion reminded us of the importance of these pastimes and the public spaces where we play. In this closely reported exploration of the role of community sports in diverse cities, Toronto journalist Perry King makes an impassioned case for re-imagining neighbourhoods whose residents can be active, healthy, and connected. "I couldn’t stop reading Perry King’s Rebound. An evocative essay about the transformative and uniting power of local sports in a city with residents from every country in the world, the book is well researched, entertaining, and informative. It spoke to my own experiences as a young athlete fitting into a new city when I first came to Toronto – and to the importance our city government must place on local recreation and sports if our city is to help all residents reach their potential. A fantastic contribution to understanding Toronto – and to the power of local recreation in any major city." —David Miller, former mayor of Toronto

This book covers the significance of sport in economic, cultural and political terms. It discusses the theory and practice of sports related policy for urban development.

Sport is seen as an increasingly important aspect of urban and regional planning. Related programmes have moved to the forefront of agendas for cities of the present and future. This has occurred as the barriers between so-called ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture continue to disintegrate. Sport is now a key component within strategies for the cultural regeneration of cities and regions, a tendency with mixed outcomes - at times fostering genuinely democratic arrangements, at others pseudo-democratic arrangements, whereby political, business and cultural elites manipulate a sense of sameness and unity among their fellow citizens to smooth the path for the pursuit of what are actually vested interests. Almost any active enactment of a ‘sports city of culture’ risks divisiveness. Recognizing controversies, with both potentially positive and negative outcomes, this book examines sport within contexts of urban and regional regeneration, via a number of rather different case studies. Within these studies, the role of sport stadium development, franchise expansion and sports-fan (and anti-sport) activism is addressed and articulated with issues concerning, inter alia, public funding, environmental impact, urban infrastructure and citizen identity. The ‘sport in the city’ project commenced as a research symposium held at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and number of the essays originate from this occasion. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Little more than a decade since Sport, Space and the City was written in 1993, the sport-city nexus continues to be a focus of world attention. This global interest is reflected, in part, by the fact that while this book concentrates mainly on British football (soccer), it was well received in North America and translated into Japanese. Its widespread reception implies a degree of general interest and application of its contents. Almost all of it is fully relevant to the present day. A geographical perspective - the view taken in this book - continues to inform studies of sport and the city. Space and place are now widely recognized by sports sociologists and sports historians as being central to their studies and Sport, Space and the City is often cited as a source of ideas and concepts that inform such studies. This reprinting will enable those previously denied access to an out-of-print book to enhance a geographical approach to the exploration of sport in the late modern city. "John Bale's book is essential reading for those wishing to think seriously about sports stadia." Sports and Leisure 1993 "This splendid and path-breaking book might more accurately be entitled "Professional Football, Space and the British City. It will prove revolutionary in the field of sports geography and thoroughly stimulating to social and economic geographers, planners and football enthusiasts everywhere." Society and Space 11, 1993 "An offering from the preeminent British scholar on sports and geography. This was one of the first books I came across when I became interested in sports stadia. It presents a general overview of many issues related to stadium development including the evolution of the sports space, hooliganism and the performance boost to home teams. A very useful book indeed." From Tim Chapin's sports facility reference list Top Ten

In our increasingly global and commercial world, where once sport would only have been seen by a few thousand on the terraces it is now watched by many millions via satellite. This mass global audience is invited not only to watch the sporting event, but also to visit the city where it takes place. Such events may help promote the host city as a tourist destination and business location. City governors are becoming increasingly aware of the possibilities of using sport as an instrument of reaching objectives of urban management. This engaging book investigates the state of the art of sports and city marketing in five European cities: Rotterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki, Manchester and Turin. In each of these cities, the book examines how sports (accommodations, clubs and events) have been made an instrument of city marketing and how the cities have attempted to maximize their potential through sports and city marketing policies. A comparison of the findings highlights the merits or disadvantages of sports clusters and strategic co-operation in sports and city marketing.

In the increasingly popular sport of parkour, athletes run, jump, climb, flip, and vault through city streetscapes, resembling urban gymnasts to passersby and awestruck spectators. In Parkour and the City, cultural sociologist Jeffrey L. Kidder examines the ways in which this sport involves a creative appropriation of urban spaces as well as a method of everyday risk-taking by a youth culture that valorizes individuals who successfully manage danger. Parkour’s modern development has been tied closely to the growth of the internet. The sport is inevitably a YouTube phenomenon, making it exemplary of new forms of globalized communication. Parkour’s dangerous stunts resonate, too, Kidder contends, with a neoliberal ideology that is ambivalent about risk. Moreover, as a male-dominated sport, parkour, with its glorification of strength and daring, reflects contemporary Western notions of masculinity. At the same time, Kidder writes, most athletes (known as “traceurs” or “freerunners”) reject a “daredevil” label, preferring a deliberate, reasoned hedging of bets with their own safety—rather than a “pushing the edge” ethos normally associated with extreme sports.