JGI216H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Expo 2010, The Great Exhibition, Megacity
11 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Professor David Roberts Feb. 2, 2017
JGI216 LECTURE 5
Key themes:
1. Mega Events and Mega Media Events
2. History of World’s Fairs and Imperialism
3. Urban Branding
4. The Visitor/Tourist Class
WORLD’S FAIR: MEGA EVENTS
• Like the Olympics of the FIFA World Cup, World’s Fairs can be understood as mega-
events
• What defines certain sports events as ‘mega’ is that they are ‘discontinuous’, out of the
ordinary, international and simply big in composition
• Mega-cities have the ability to transmit promotional messages to billions of people via
television and other developments in telecommunications
MEGA-MEDIA EVENTS
• The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa was shown in every single country and territory
on Earth, including Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, generating record-breaking viewing
figures in many TV markets around the world
• The in-home television coverage of the competition reached over 3.2 billion people
around the world, or 46.4% of the global population, based on viewers watching a
minimum of over one minute of coverage
THE WORLD’S FAIR (AKA)
• World fair
• World exposition
• Universal exposition
• Expo
• First World’s Fair → Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (in
London, 1851)
CITY BRANDING
• The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was regarded as something much more →
its opening in 1915 was heralded as a sign that san Francisco, which had been virtually
destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906, had returned to life
• The 2008 Summer Olympics was meant to signify China’s re-emergence onto the world
stage, the Shanghai World Expo will be used to mark the city’s return to the forefront of
global commerce and culture
BRINGING THE WORLD TO THE HOST CITY
• Ever since the first world’s fair in London in 1851, the goals of world’s fairs have been
both high-minded as well as commercial
• They allow people to explore the world outside of their everyday experience—outside
cultures, new scientific advancements, and new inventions
Ex. San Francisco
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Jgi216 lecture 5: mega events and mega media events, history of world"s fairs and imperialism, urban branding, the visitor/tourist class. The world"s fair (aka: world fair, world exposition, universal exposition, expo, first world"s fair great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations (in. Eiffel tower, london eye, geneva fountain, seattle space needle, etc. Shanghai, china: olympics, made the city more tourist friendly. Examples of city beautiful in toronto: city hall, nathan phillips, exhibition place, union station. Environmental determinism: also known as climatic determinism; that the physical environment, rather than social conditions determine culture, related to the broken windows theory- if a neighborhood has broken windows, then there is crime. The century 21 exposition aka the seattle world"s fair 1962. Context : cold war, space race, emergence of new technologies. Feb. 2, 2017: based on the themes of space, science and future, rather than a zoo like chicago its more diverse and culturally inspiring like toronto.
