Mega-events and other disasters. Some evidence from Italy

A rich stream of literature in urban studies, leisure studies and tourism research has provided definitions and categorisations of mega-events, focusing on their size and exceptionality taking for granted that these two features apply only to planned mega-events. In order to question this assumption, we mobilise the metaphor of ‘shock’ as developed my Naomi Klein to shed light on how conventional wisdoms and epistemologies overlook important aspects that render the urbanizing effects of mega-events similar to the ones triggered by other spatiotemporal exceptionalities. Notably, the chapter argues that mega-events and natural disasters could be assimilated because of their transformative and traumatic effects on urbanization processes. Drawing on recent evidence from Italy, three main elements are highlighted as features that characterise both mega-events and catastrophes: the rationales and the logics of exploitation of the event; the suspension of consciousness; and the selective acceleration and slowing down of flows. Rather than either suggesting that mega-events have an intrinsic negative nature or that the deaths and sufferance of catastrophes and crises could be neglected, this provocative argument aims at stressing how the traumatic impact of both kinds of events may result into the expulsion of the political from some major urban interventions.