Sydney 2000: "Sharing the Spirit"? : Attitudes Towards the Olympics in the Context of Sydney's Socio-Spatial Polarisation Philippe Furrer University of Wollongong
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 1998 Sydney 2000: "Sharing the spirit"? : attitudes towards the Olympics in the context of Sydney's socio-spatial polarisation Philippe Furrer University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Furrer, Philippe, Sydney 2000: "Sharing the spirit"? : attitudes towards the Olympics in the context of Sydney's socio-spatial polarisation, Master of Science (Hons.) thesis, School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong, 1998. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/ 2894 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Sydney 2000: "Sharing the Spirit"? Attitudes towards the Olympics in the context of Sydney's socio-spatial polarisation A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Honours Master of Science from University of Wollongong by Philippe Furrer, B(Hons)Arts, Universite de Neuchatel, Switzerland Geosciences 1998 "Le supreme bonheur de la vie, c 'est la certitude qu 'on est aime" Victor Hugo To my parents II Abstract This thesis explores the perceived impacts of the Sydney 2000 Olympics between the city' s residents of highest and lowest socio-economic status. In examining the difference in perceiv~d impac1s, two main arguments guide this thesis. The first argument of the 'Bread and Circuses' suggests hallmark events are spectacles which divert attention from daily concerns. Euphoria and enthusiasm for the spectacle offer an escape from the hardships of daily life. The second argument of the 'Elite Games' suggests that the political, economic and social advantages are not evenly distributed across society. A telephone survey was conducted in suburbs representing Sydney's socio-economic extremes. Within these targeted suburbs, 658 households were randomly sampled. Respondents' mean scores were compared in order to show differences in perceived enthusiasm, access, environmental and economic impacts between the lower socio economic status areas of Fairfield/Auburn/Liverpool and the higher SES areas of Mosman/Ku-ring-gai/Willoughby. In terms of enthusiasm, results suggest lower SES suburbs are more excited. Moreover, the enthusiasm has quelled the majority of concerns over the perceived environmental impacts. The Olympics is an elite event. Perception of access and participation in the planning process were significantly higher for the most affluent suburbs. III Acknowledgments At the time of putting the final touches to this thesis, I suddenly realise that my experience down-under is already coming to an end. It has been very enriching indeed. A whole new field has opened up before me which might well keep me busy in the future. This thesis has allowed me to integrate my long-lived interest for sport with my academic field, all within a new environment. Without the considerable input of my 'super-wiser' Gordon Waitt, this thesis would not have been what it is now. His constant interest and subtle incentives have had their greatest effects on me and the open exchange of views have considerably enriched my thinking. More rigour in my work has been the result of my interaction with Gordon. I am glad to say that I am now going back home with improved knowledge and with a new friend. Merci! I also have to thank Patrick Rawstorne and his company BCR Pty Ltd for the implementation of the telephone survey and for his good advice in designing the questionnaire and analysing data. The production of maps was made possible and considerably speeded up by the help of Laurie, Ingrid, Megan and the 'Johns'. A special thank you for all those who spent time answering my questions and discussing the Olympics under different perspectives. Those people are: Mr Gilbert Felli, Sports Director, IOC Lausanne Mr Denis Oswald, Swiss member of the IOC Mr Christophe Dubi, IOC Mrs Genevieve Tutaan, Community Relations, Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) Mrs Heather, Community Relations, SOCOG and Mr Rev. Harry Herbert, Chairman of the Social Impact Advisory Committee (SIAC) for the Sydney 2000 Olympics Last but not least I want to deeply thank Michele for her understanding, patience and considerable help in the last days before the delivery of my work. Table of contents IV Table of contents Page Title page----------------- I Abstract ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ II Acknowledgements--------------- III Table of contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-- IV List of tables ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- VIII List of figures ------------------ XI List of maps _________________~ XII 1 Aims 1 The Objectives 1 Hypothesis 2 Research Outline 3 Chapter 1: Hallmark events and their impacts _________ 5 1.1 Definition 5 1.2 The goals and uses of hallmark events 9 1.3 A systematic approach to hallmark events and their impacts 11 1.3. l Environmental aspect 14 1.3.2 Economic aspect 16 1. 3. 3 Political aspect 20 1.3.4 Social aspect 23 1.3.5 Psychological aspect 29 1.4 Constraints to assessing impacts of hallmark events 32 1. 5 Conclusion 34 Chapter 2: Understanding and planning hallmark events _____ 35 2.1 Why hallmark events? 35 2.1.1 Cities of enjoyment and urban entrepreneurialism 36 Entrepreneurialism 37 Hallmark events 38 Sydney: a city ofpleasure 40 Limitations 41 2 .1. 2 Playing with images 42 2 .1. 3 Power relations and inequalities 44 2.2 For what reasons hallmark events are held: 'Bread and Circuses' 46 2.3 Hallmark events ... for whom? 48 2.4 Redressing the elite: A community approach to planning for hallmark events 50 2.4.1 Public participation 50 Table of contents v 2.4.2 The absence of public participation in the context of sustainability 55 2.4.3 Consequences of the lack of public participation 57 2.4.4 Improving public participation in the planning for hallmark events 58 2.5 Conclusion 60 3. Sydney 2000 and the postmodern Olympics 61 3 .1 The Olympic Games today: significance 61 3.2 The Sydney 2000 Olympics 63 3.2.1 The winning bid 63 3.2.2 The Organisation 64 3.3 A critical reading of the Sydney 2000 65 3.3.l The Olympic rhetoric 65 Multiculturalism 67 The media and public debate during the bid 69 Sharing the Spirit 70 3.3.2 Environmental issues 73 Homebush Bay 76 The Olympic Village 78 Transport and air quality 78 3.3.3 Economic issues 81 The budget 83 3.3.4 Political issues 84 The politicization of SOCOG 84 Transparency 85 Other political issues 86 Access: disabilities 86 Ticketing 87 Aboriginal issues 89 3.3.5 Social issues 90 Managing the social impacts 91 Lip service to social impacts 92 Inequality 92 The Cultural Olympiad 93 Housing 94 Measures for social issues 95 3.3.6 Psychological issues 97 3.4 Conclusion 97 4. Globalisation and polarisation in Sydney 99 4.1 Globalisation and the reshaping of Sydney 99 4.1.1 Globalisation 99 4.1.2 Sydney as a global city 100 Sydney as an Asia-Pacific regional headquarter 101 4.1.3 Sydney and the process of economic restructuring 102 4.1.4 Globalisation and inequalities 104 Table of contents VI 4.2 Socio-spatial polarisation 105 4.2.1 Polarisation in global cities 105 4.2.2 Sydney's polarisation: a tale of two cities? 107 Income 107 Housing 114 Employment 116 Education 119 Ethnicity 121 Conclusion 124 4.2.3 Western Sydney 125 Public investment in Western Sydney 125 Images of the 'West' 126 4.3 Conclusion 128 Socio-spatial polarisation: a contested concept 128 Towards a new spatial determinism? 129 The 2000 Olympics in a polarised city 130 5. The research methodology 131 5.1 The research tool: telephone survey 131 5.2 Constructing the questionnaire 131 5.3 Selecting the sample 132 5.4 Testing the questionnaire 134 5.5 Administrating the questionnaire 135 5.6 Constructing scales for multidimensional variables 135 5.7 The response rates 137 5.8 Sample characteristics 139 Demographic characteristics 139 Socio-Economic Status (SES) 141 5.9 Other control variables 146 5.10 Representativeness of samples 147 5.11 Limitations 147 5.12 Conclusion 148 6. Results 149 6.1 Introduction 149 6.2 Bread and Circuses 149 6.2.1 Enthusiasm 150 6.2.2 The environment 157 6.3 The Elite Games 161 6.3.1 Economics 161 6.3 .2 Public Involvment 164 6.3.3 Access 165 6.3.4 Housing 169 6.3.5 The Cultural Olympiad 172 6.4 Summary 173 7 Conclusion 176 References 183 Table of contents VII Appendix A: Case studies I A-1 The America's Cup in Perth-Fremantle I A-2 The Adelaide Grand-Prix IV A-3 The 1988 Brisbane Expo VI A-4 The 1988 Calgary Olympic Games VII A-5 The 1992 Barcelona Olympics x A-6 The Melbourne Olympic Bid for the 1996 Olympics XII A-7 Conclusion XIII Appendix B: Questionnaire XIV Appendix C: Control Sheet XX III Appendix D: Statistical significance of the 23 Likert- scale items per area XXIV Appendix E: Statistical significance of enthusiasm with 4 variables XXVI Appendix F: Towards a socially responsible Olympic Games: the Bread not Circuses standards for the Toronto Olympic bid ______ XXVIII List of tables VIII LIST OF TABLES Chapter 1 Page Table 1.1 Classification of hallmark events in Australia 7 Table 1.2 Types of impact of hallmark events 13 - Table 1.3 Specific variables measured in political impact studies and associated data collection and interpretation problems 20 Table 1.4 Social impact categories 24 Chapter 2 Table 2.1 Examples of urban imaging strategies in Australia 39 Chapter 3 Table 3.1 Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in a few figures 61 Table 3.2 Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games in a few figures 62 Chapter 4 Table 4.1 Median home price and median rent in the six