By the time the next World Cup and Olympics reach your television, in 2014 and 2016 respectively, you will have been bombarded with images of lavish sports venues and samba-dancing Brazilians welcoming the world to the ‘Marvellous City’ of Rio de Janeiro.
But these glamorous images hide the realities of mega-event staging, which can include forced evictions, lack of transparency and popular participation, the militarization of poor communities, and the privatization of urban space. In Rio, these sporting extravaganzas impose a model of urban development that favours élite real estate and corporate interests while expelling the poor to the periphery.
