IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v74y2019icp239-245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transportation planning and policy in the pursuit of mega-events: Boston's 2024 Olympic bid

Author

Listed:
  • Kassens-Noor, Eva

Abstract

Improved transportation systems is a key argument boosters offer local residents as to why they should support mounting a bid for the Olympic Games. Opponents argue that transportation improvement can and should take place without the mega-event and that a bid instead deviates resources away from necessary transport projects. Transport policy makers need a practicable understanding of how to make decisions under grand opportunities like the Olympic Games. I advance the theory under grand opportunities using Boston's transport planning approach for its bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games as a case study. Through an ethnography in Boston's bidding committee, content analysis of internal planning documents circulated among staff, and in-depth interviews with participants in the transport planning process, I analyze the reasons and process by which Boston 2024's Olympic transport proposal changed over time. I find that decision-making over transport emulated many characteristics of crisis; it was complex, risky, and occurred under high uncertainty. Once the initial bid was published, Bostonians demanded decisions for subsequent bid versions become transparent. Consequently, transport planners were forced to reduce complexity, to incur higher planning costs, and to discard projects beneficial for Boston's long-term development. I find that grand opportunities for transport were squashed over the course of Boston's Olympic bid. I conclude that grand opportunities move along a spectrum of high-low complexity during the decision-making process and thus propose to analyze this process with what I term the coincidental opportunism approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Kassens-Noor, Eva, 2019. "Transportation planning and policy in the pursuit of mega-events: Boston's 2024 Olympic bid," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 239-245.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:74:y:2019:i:c:p:239-245
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X18300763
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marsden, Greg & Docherty, Iain, 2013. "Insights on disruptions as opportunities for transport policy change," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 46-55.
    2. Eva Kassens-Noor, 2016. "From Ephemeral Planning to Permanent Urbanism: An Urban Planning Theory of Mega-Events," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(1), pages 41-54.
    3. Eva Kassens-Noor & John Lauermann, 2018. "Mechanisms of policy failure: Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(15), pages 3369-3384, November.
    4. Eva Kassens-Noor & John Lauermann, 2017. "How to Bid Better for the Olympics: A Participatory Mega-Event Planning Strategy for Local Legacies," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(4), pages 335-345, October.
    5. John M. Bryson, 1981. "A perspective on planning and crises in the public sector," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 181-196, April.
    6. Lindau, Luis Antonio & Petzhold, Guillermo & Tavares, Virginia Bergamaschi & Facchini, Daniela, 2016. "Mega events and the transformation of Rio de Janeiro into a mass-transit city," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 196-203.
    7. David A. Hensher & Ann M. Brewer, 2002. "Going for gold at the Sydney Olympics: How did transport perform?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 381-399, January.
    8. Bent Flyvbjerg & Allison Stewart & Alexander Budzier, 2016. "The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games," Papers 1607.04484, arXiv.org.
    9. FAbio DUARTE & Rafael BARCZAK & Yumi YAMAWAKI, 2016. "Urban Transportation And Major Sporting Events?What Is Left After The Games: An Analysis Of Sydney And Cape Town," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 11(1), pages 41-58, February.
    10. Parkes, Stephen D. & Jopson, Ann & Marsden, Greg, 2016. "Understanding travel behaviour change during mega-events: Lessons from the London 2012 Games," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 104-119.
    11. Greg Marsden & Karen Trapenberg Frick & Anthony D May & Elizabeth Deakin, 2012. "Bounded Rationality in Policy Learning Amongst Cities: Lessons from the Transport Sector," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(4), pages 905-920, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Mu-Chen & Hsu, Chia-Lin & Huang, Chun-Han, 2021. "Applying the Kano model to investigate the quality of transportation services at mega events," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yamawaki, Y. & Castro Filho, F.M.d. & Costa, G.E.G.d., 2020. "Mega-event transport legacy in a developing country: The case of Rio 2016 Olympic Games and its Transolímpica BRT corridor," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Parkes, Stephen D. & Jopson, Ann & Marsden, Greg, 2016. "Understanding travel behaviour change during mega-events: Lessons from the London 2012 Games," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 104-119.
    3. Scheiner, Joachim, 2020. "Changes in travel mode use over the life course with partner interactions in couple households," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 791-807.
    4. Schaefer, Kerstin J. & Tuitjer, Leonie & Levin-Keitel, Meike, 2021. "Transport disrupted – Substituting public transport by bike or car under Covid 19," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 202-217.
    5. Eva Kassens-Noor & John Lauermann, 2018. "Mechanisms of policy failure: Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(15), pages 3369-3384, November.
    6. Pasquale Lucio Scandizzo & Maria Rita Pierleoni, 2018. "Assessing The Olympic Games: The Economic Impact And Beyond," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 649-682, July.
    7. Seung-Jin Han & Won-Jae Lee & So-Hee Kim & Sang-Hoon Yoon & Hyunwoong Pyun, 2022. "Assessing Expected Long-term Benefits for the Olympic Games: Delphi-AHP Approach from Korean Olympic Experts," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.
    8. Beria, Paolo & Laurino, Antonio, 2016. "Determinants of daily fluctuations in air passenger volumes. The effect of events and holidays on Milan Malpensa airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 73-84.
    9. Nazmul Arefin Khan & Muhammad Ahsanul Habib, 2018. "Evaluation of Preferences for Alternative Transportation Services and Loyalty towards Active Transportation during a Major Transportation Infrastructure Disruption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-14, June.
    10. Lu Cheng & Zhifu Mi & D’Maris Coffman & Jing Meng & Dining Liu & Dongfeng Chang, 2022. "The Role of Bike Sharing in Promoting Transport Resilience," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 567-585, September.
    11. Weihua Yan & Na Xu & Rui Xue & Zhenghang Ye & Zhaoyang Wang & Dingmeng Ren, 2022. "Efforts Proposed by IOC to Alleviate Pressure on Olympic Games Hosts and Evidence from Beijing 2022," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Dawson, David & Shaw, Jon & Roland Gehrels, W., 2016. "Sea-level rise impacts on transport infrastructure: The notorious case of the coastal railway line at Dawlish, England," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 97-109.
    13. Younes, Hannah & Nasri, Arefeh & Baiocchi, Giovanni & Zhang, Lei, 2019. "How transit service closures influence bikesharing demand; lessons learned from SafeTrack project in Washington, D.C. metropolitan area," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 83-92.
    14. Petri Lintumäki & Hannes Winner & Sabrina Scheiber & Anna Mederle & Martin Schnitzer, 2020. "The Economic Impact of Participant Sports Events: A Case Study for the Winter World Masters Games 2020 in Tyrol, Austria," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-23, November.
    15. Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick, 2015. "Changes in transport behavior during the financial crisis. An analysis of urban form, location and transport behavior in the greater Copenhagen area 2006–2011," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 10-19.
    16. Xiaojian Hu & Nan Wu & Nuo Chen, 2021. "Young People’s Behavioral Intentions towards Low-Carbon Travel: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-15, February.
    17. Lindau, Luis Antonio & Petzhold, Guillermo & Tavares, Virginia Bergamaschi & Facchini, Daniela, 2016. "Mega events and the transformation of Rio de Janeiro into a mass-transit city," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 196-203.
    18. Emma Ferranti & Lauren Andres & Stuart Paul Denoon-Stevens & Lorena Melgaço & Daniel Oberling & Andrew Quinn, 2020. "Operational Challenges and Mega Sporting Events Legacy: The Case of BRT Systems in the Global South," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, February.
    19. Kobe Helsen & Marijke Taks & Jeroen Scheerder, 2022. "Involvement, Social Impact Experiences, and Event Support of Host Residents Before, during, and after the 2021 UCI Road World Championships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.
    20. Christian Dragin-Jensen, 2016. "Mutual Image Impacts of Events and Host Destinations: What We Know From Prior Research," Working Papers 122/16, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:74:y:2019:i:c:p:239-245. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.