Developing Local Citizenship through Sporting Events: Balancing Community Involvement and Tourism Development

Abstract

Cities throughout the world have struggled to remain competitive in an era of globalisation and devolution. As a result, many have turned to tourism-related activities, such as hosting sporting events or mega-events, as part of development strategies (Hall, 1992). Within this context, questions of how these short-lived events affect resident and nonresident identities have been raised. In essence, questions of citizenship, community, and identity have become central with the on-going use of itinerant tourism strategies. Lepofsky and Fraser (2003) reasoned that community citizenship can no longer be viewed as a static concept, where rights to local citizenship are guaranteed by virtue of residential status. They propose the notion of flexible citizenship, where residents and nonresidents alike determine their level of citizenship by their ability to negotiate their contributions within the community. This paper uses this conceptualisation of citizenship to explore how community involvement in the hosting of sporting events – by organising, watching, or participating in an event – affects notions of community citizenship, and how these newly articulated citizenships affect tourism development.

Keywords:

• citizenship
• community
• sporting events
• identity