Habitat International 53 (2016) 163e177 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Habitat International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint Planning mega-event built legacies e A case of Expo 2010 * Ying Deng a, , S.W. Poon a, E.H.W. Chan b a Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong b Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong article info abstract Article history: Mega-events are popular catalysts for launching area-based urban renewal. However, their built legacies Received 9 June 2015 are problematic due to a lack of planning. Besides a much-needed shift in mindset, legacy planning Received in revised form methodology holds the key. This chronic issue is gaining renewed attention with the recent rise of new- 19 November 2015 generation hosts such as China where massive event-led construction was fast-tracked in a top-down Accepted 20 November 2015 fashion. What remains less understood is the impact and implications of such a forceful paradigm on Available online xxx legacy planning and urban renewal. This paper aims to address this gap with an in-depth case study of Expo 2010 Shanghai China. The central theme is to investigate how this paradigm has been adopted to a Keywords: Built legacy previous dockland selected as the Expo 2010 site and a catalyst for city-branding oriented urban renewal. Legacy planning methodology Data was sourced from 2004 to 2015 from personal observations, strategic policies, planning documents, Top-down paradigm photo documentation, and meetings and interviews. This study identifies both the merits and drawbacks Mega-event strategy of this controversial paradigm to caution about its mixed impact on mega-event built legacies. It is Urban renewal concluded that future event cities should shift their mindset from super-developers to guardians of built legacies, and strike a balance between the top-down and bottom-up thinking. A new categorization centering on the legacy planning process is proposed, with guidelines to improve legacy planning methodology for future event cities. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Background introduction Its greatest challenges emerge after the transition of this duality: how to fulfill the longstanding mandate after the cessation of the 1.1. Defining built legacies ephemeral role? Since the 1960s, there has been a global prolifer- ation of mega-event built legacies by scale and complexity. Taking ‘Event legacy’ is an umbrella term most used in the context of World Expos for example, Table 1 categorizes related built legacies global mega-events like Olympic Games and World Expos. It de- into two main types e standalone and area-based. They can be scribes structures which are produced for these short-lived events further divided into several sub-types with examples ranging from and will have long-term implications for host cities and nations. spectacular buildings to advanced infrastructures to revitalized These structures can be planned (environmental improvement), districts. This proliferation has intensified the paradoxical duality of unplanned (sporting ethos), positive (tourism boom), negative built legacies. It is hence necessary to review its causes and prob- (financial deficit), tangible (upgraded infrastructure) or intangible lems before going into the case study. (elevated global status) (Clark, 2008; IOC, 2013b; Hall in Murphy, 1997; Preuss, 2007). Among others built legacies are a focus of 1.2. Mega-event led urban renewal interdisciplinary debate but seldom clearly defined. A mega-event built legacy is a physical structure possessing an In the 1950s, urban renewal was characterized by slum- inborn duality of temporality and permanency. It is purpose-built clearance and engineering megaprojects to revive the economy of to facilitate the holding of an ephemeral mega-event, and will industrialized cities (Altshuler & Luberoff, 2003; Healey, 1992). This function as an enduring urban asset thereafter (Deng & Poon, 2011). infrastructure-based strategy was largely abandoned in the late 1960s due to lacking social and environmental considerations (Roberts & Sykes, 2000). In the 1970s, positioning selective de- * Corresponding author. molition and image-enhancing projects on urban fringes became a E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Deng). more acceptable compromise to ease the tension between http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.11.034 0197-3975/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 164 Y. Deng et al. / Habitat International 53 (2016) 163e177 Table 1 A non-exhaustive list of World Expo built legacies (1962e2010). Built Types Sub-types Examples legacies Standalone Symbolic Memorials, monuments The Space Needle e 1962 Seattle; the tower of the Sun e 1970 Osaka; the Skyneedle e Brisbane 1988; the Nepal landmarks Peace Pagoda e Brisbane 1988 Flagship Museums, library, The Pacific Science Center e 1962 Seattle; the knowledge Pavilion (a science museum) e 1988 Brisbane; the China buildings science centers Pavilion, the Expo museum e 2010 Shanghai Conference center, The San Antonio Convention Center e 1968 San Antonio; the Spokane convention center e 1974 Spokane; the exhibition centers Knoxville convention center e 1982 Knoxville; the Brisbane convention and exhibition center e 1988 Brisbane; the Lisbon international exhibition center e 1998 Lisbon; the Expo center, the theme Pavilion e 2010 Shanghai Performing arts centers, Performing arts centers e 1962 Seattle; the Imax movie theater e 1974 Spokane; the Mercedes-Benz Arena e theaters 2010 Shanghai Tourist/recreational The Montreal Casino e 1967 Montreal; the Riverwalk Marketplace (an upscale shopping mall) e 1984 Louisiana; facilities The Casino Lisboa e 1998 Lisbon; A regional shopping mall e 1998 Lisbon; 20 hotels e 1992 Seville Transport Subways An expressway network (redevelopment) e 1967 Montreal; Modernization of the transportation systems e 1992 infrastructures Seville; Ten new subway lines e 2010 Shanghai Water works An artificial island; a boat pier e 1967 Montreal Roads, Expressways A New expressway e 1970 Osaka; A 80-km ring road e 1992 Seville Bridges; tunnels 9 bridges e 1992 Seville; the Vasco da Gama Bridge e 1998 Lisbon Airports A New airport e 1992 Seville; the Centrair Airport e 2005 Aichi; two expanded international airports À2010 Shanghai Railways The Seattle Monorail e 1962 Seattle; the redevelopment of railways e 1967 Montreal; A new railway and an intercity railway line e 1970 Osaka; A railway station e 1992 Seville; expansion of three railway stations e 2010 Shanghai Multi-modal terminals The Gare do oriente (for trains, metro, buses, and taxis) e 1998 Lisbon Meglev train line Megleve train line À2005 Aichi Area- Prominent Parklands; gardens, The Montreal Parkland e 1967 Montreal; the Hemis Fair Park and the river walk e 1968 San Antonio; the Expo based urban districts promenades Commemoration Park e 1970 Osaka; the south bank Parklands e 1988 Brisbane; three riverfront Parks e 2010 Shanghai Theme/amusement The Seattle Center e 1962 Seattle; the Expoland e 1970 Osaka; the World's Fair Park e 1982 Knoxville parks Central business A Premier CBD e 1998 Lisbon districts Science and technology A high-tech R&D center e 1992 Seville; center of information technology, design, media and arts e 2000 parks Hannover Adaptive reuse Reuse of existing exhibition site and facilities e 2000 Hannover Renewed industrial belts Louisville and Nashville Railroad yard and depot e 1982 Knoxville; the Old warehouse district - 1984 Louisiana; Southwest section of the Huangpu riverfronts e 2010 Shanghai Residential/New-town developments The Habitat ’67 converted apartment block e 1967 Motreal; Suita new Town e 1970 Osaka; A residential district for 25,000 people e 1998 Lisbon; the Expo village and the Sanlin Expo Homeland e 2010 Shanghai economic growth and social frictions (Couch, 1990). In this Due to exorbitant expenditures for staging a mega-event, Essex connection, Expo 1962 in Seattle, USA set a precedent. The Expo and Chalkey's (2004) predicted that mega-events would not be was staged on a peripheral site long reserved for civic uses. About affordable outside developed countries. Nevertheless, the 21st 75% on-site structures were kept as a basis for gradually developing century has so far witnessed mega-events moving from traditional the area into Seattle's most vibrant civic center (Rydell, Findling, & bases in the West to emerging economic powerhouses. By estimate, Pelle, 2000). This first post-war Expo led to a paradigmatic shift China spent USD44 billion on Beijing Olympics (Flyvbjerg & from treating an Expo site as an ephemeral fantasyland to incor- Stewart, 2012) and USD55 billion on Shanghai Expo (Waldmeir, porating the site's renewal process into the city's. Many host cities 2010). Sochi, a small Russian resort, paid USD51 billion for the modelled on this, leaving behind wide-ranging built legacies as 2014 Winter Olympics (MuGller, 2011); while the total costs for exemplified in Table 1. Russia's 2018 World Cup was expected to exceed USD30 billion In the 1980s, place competitiveness was underlined by (Bray, 2011). Free from the affordability concern, these new hosts neoliberal urbanism as a driving force behind economic growth seemed determined in using spectacular construction to (Hall & Hubbard, 1998; Swyngedouw, Moulaert, & Rodriguez, strengthen national prestige. But are they fully immune to the post- 2002). Construction megaprojects regained ground due to their event pitfalls