No abstract

The London 2012 cultural programme: A consideration of Olympic impacts and legacies for small creative organisations in east London Pappalepore, I. and Duignan, Michael B.

This article critically examines visitor experiences of a creative urban area, to help explore the relationships between creative industries, consumption, and the development of urban tourism. After reviewing available literature on creative areas and their appeal for emerging types of contemporary tourists, the article concentrates on one creative area in London: Spitalfields. Drawing on 50 semistructured interviews conducted with visitors between November 2007 and March 2008, the article explores the role of the creative industries in developing urban tourism, via an analysis of visitors' perceptions, experiences, and characteristics, as well as the tangible and intangible qualities of an emerging tourism area. The findings suggest that Spitalfields is an established offthe-beaten-track destination that is starting to attract more mainstream tourists with the consequent departure of some groups of visitors. “Atmosphere” appears to be crucial to the visitor experience and is created by a number of elements including independent shops, a high number of young artists, new fashions, and cultural diversity. All these elements contribute to make the area seem distinctive, but at the same time “typically London.” The findings shed light on the complexity of the tourist experience, interrogating some key concepts such as atmosphere, perceived authenticity, and new forms of cultural capital in the context of a creative urban area.

London 2012 promised local small businesses access to lucrative Olympic event-tourism and visitor trading opportunities. However, as urban spaces were transformed to stage live Games, many local stakeholders found themselves locked out. We focus on one 'host' community, Central Greenwich, who emerged negatively impacted by such conditions. 43 in-depth interviews and secondary evidence reveal that this was a community determined to resist. Few papers have extended the concept of resistance to the context of mega-events so we examine why communities resisted, and how physical tactics and creative resistance were deployed. Although efforts afforded some access for local businesses-they proved too little, too late. We present the 'tactics for resistance', a series of 'hard' and 'soft' tactics businesses could use to encourage proactive, as opposed to reactive, communal resistance required to protect local interests and afford access to opportunities generated by temporary mega-event visitor economies.

WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Visitor (im)mobility, leisure consumption and mega-event impact: the territorialisation of Greenwich and small business exclusion at the London 2012 Olympics Duignan, M.B. and Pappalepore, I.