Coinciding practices of exception in urban development: mega-events and special economic zones in Tbilisi, Georgia

ABSTRACT

Since the 1960s, both mega-events and special economic zones have gained global prominence as agents of urban development. Often relying on extra-legal measures for their realization, these two initiatives further create areas of spatial exclusion in cities. This paper examines their coming together in Tbilisi, Georgia, where costs for the city’s hosting of the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival were defrayed by the company Hualing Group in exchange for government approval of a 420-hectare special economic zone. Using a qualitative mixed-methods approach, the research shows that combining mega-events with special economic zones poses significant threats to the democratic processes tied to urban planning at both the local and national level. It further demonstrates how the coinciding of such projects promotes sprawl and privately-enclaved urban development patterns. In relation to urban theory, the paper contributes to a growing body of literature examining exceptionality in cities, and looking at how mega-events serve as legitimizing devices for even wider practices of long-term spatial and legal exception, such as special economic zones.

KEYWORDS:

• Mega-events
• economic zones
• state of exception
• urban development
• Tbilisi

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all respondents of the interviews for providing valuable information and opinions. We would also like to thank Martin Müller, David Sichinava and Alberto Vanolo, as well as the journal editors and reviewers, for their thoughtful comments and support towards this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 As Müller outlines in his paper: ‘What makes an event a mega-event? Definitions and sizes,’ what turns an event into one that can be considered mega ‘will vary depending on the focus.’ He continues that: ‘mega-events have different dimensions in which they can be mega’ (Müller, 2015, p. 1). The 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi is considered as a mega-event as a result of its costs and dramatic impacts on the city’s built environment.

2 In considering the exceptional practices linked to the hosting of the EYOF 2015 in Tbilisi, this paper focuses primarily on the newly-constructed permanent facilities within Tbilisi Sea New City, which represent the core facilities of the event. It is worth noting that the EYOF also entailed the upgrading and constructing of ten venues within the existing city fabric. On account of their different nature and smaller scale, these sites are considered to be beyond the scope of this paper and will not be analysed..

3 Tbilisi Reservoir (also referred to as Tbilisi Sea) is an artificial lake near the urban core of Tbilisi that serves as a drinking water reservoir.

4 Müller notes that there is no absolute threshold for events being called ‘mega-events’ (Müller, 2015). Rather, such a definition can be established in relation to a city’s scale, budget and urban environment.

5 Such was the case with the first four zones constructed in China in the early 1980s: Shenzhen (1980), Zhuhai (1980), Shantou (1981), and Xiamen (1980).

6 Zviad Archuadze (Former Head of Economic Policy Department at Tbilisi City Hall); Ziyong Xu (Head of Communications and Public Relations Department at Hualing Group); Elene Khundadze (Head of Analytical Division at Municipal Transport Department and Former Chief Specialist at Municipal Department of Economic Development at Tbilisi City Hall); Giorgi Khachidze (Executive director of the 2015 EYOF); Respondent #5 (Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia); Respondent #6 (Architect, Tbilisi); Respondent #7 (Urban planner, Tbilisi); Irakli Abesadze (Former Head of Legal Department at Tbilisi City Hall, Former Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi); Sandro Togonidze (Deputy Head of Economic Development Department at Tbilisi City Hall); Nikoloz Gogorishvili (Former Head of Urban Management and Development Team at Tbilisi City Hall).

7 The United National Movement (UNM) government was in power in City Hall between 2003-2014. Since 2014, the Georgian Dream coalition government (later on the Georgian Dream party) has been in power.

8 While most mega-events in Tbilisi were held after 2013, bids for hosting these events and similar ones were submitted at least 3–5 years beforehand, thus the state's official strategy on deploying events for urban regeneration and branding purposes was shared across the two ruling governments.

9 Including the EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum 2015, the 25th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session.

10 At the same time as the development of the Olympic Village, additional apartment blocks were being built inside Tbilisi Sea New City, with a small portion of the Hualing-developed buildings being sold to the state in order to accommodate Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from Georgia’s conflict-affected regions.

11 The average selling price of development land in Tbilisi for 2014 reached 198 USD per m², while the highest rate was 731 USD per m² in the downtown of Tbilisi (Colliers International, 2015, p. 33).

12 This is comprised of: marketplaces; a customs warehouse; commercial support zones; real estate development; pedestrian streets and recreational zones.

13 Dubbed the Panorama Tbilisi Project, once finished the elite $600 million complex will be comprised of a business centre, conference facilities, a seven-star hotel, and a golf course. The majority of the project’s new facilities are to be built on lush greenfield sites in the city’s hillside peripheries with desirable views of the Old Town. The realization of the project, similar to Hualing HISEZ, has become possible through ad personam legislative changes (Lorusso, 2018).