School of Public Health
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1633
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
Note: Prior to July 1, 2007, the School of Public Health was named the College of Health & Human Performance.
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item A CASE STUDY OF RED BULL’S USE OF SPORTING EVENTS IN THE NEOLIBERAL URBAN ENVIORNMENT(2024) Weber, Emilio; Andrews, David L.; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This project critically examines the ways in which city space and place are mobilized for capital interests through an examination of the global sports and energy drinks brand, Red Bull, and specifically its urban-based event strategies. The events such as the ones Red Bull hosts, alongside other spectacular urban projects have been prominent endeavors in which the lived experience of space has been reformulated by those who wield power and influence in the city. Informed by the contextual forces and logics of neoliberal urbanism, Red Bull strategically deploys the physical and symbolic reformulation of cities as an important aspect of its brand marketing strategy. The company, alongside local entities, impact the physical environment of the urban areas they occupy for the events. In addition, representations of places are presented and altered. These alterations of urban space and place have included an increased focus on spectacular consumption sites and experiences, in addition to the policing and surveillance of such spaces. Furthermore, this thesis offers analytical insight into the ways Red Bull’s urban strategizing is both and product and producer of the normalized neoliberal fabric that has come to envelope the contemporary US city: ultimately reproducing urban spaces which promote private profit and continue or exacerbate the inequalities felt in cities. Drawing from a range of interdisciplinary scholarship, I examine the relationship between, and impact of, sporting events hosted within the context of neoliberal cities. Deploying theoretical frameworks based in urban studies, neoliberalism, and critical geography informs the literature review and my research. This literature includes, but is not restricted to, physical cultural studies, urban studies, the sociology of sport, and event literature. Additionally, I utilize a case study method to examine the nature of the events within the urban and sport context they take place in. Completing field research and participant observation at three Red Bull sporting events, hosted in three distinct locales in June 2023, August 2023, and February 2024, I focus on the composition, meaning, affect, and experience of urban space, as created by the event itself, alongside marketing and promotional strategies of the company and cities in relation to these events. The research findings are divided into two empirical chapters, focused on the material and symbolic impacts upon urban space and place, respectively. I posit these findings as a normalized occupation of urban space, following the logics of neoliberalism and the event/content production of Red Bull. In conforming to neoliberal capitalist ideas focused on commercialized spectacle, these events simultaneously work to normalize this corporate use of urban space.Item The Transparency of Democracy: A Lefebvrean Analysis of Washington's Nationals Park(2008-11-17) Friedman, Michael Todd; Andrews, David L.; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In 2008, the Washington Nationals began play in their new stadium, Nationals Park, which has been subsidized with $611 million of public money from the city of Washington, D.C. According to lead architect Joseph Spear of HOK Sport, "the transparency of democracy" (as qtd. in Nakamura, 2005a, p. B1) is one of the stadium's primary design themes, as Spear was inspired by the city's global image and role in American political life. Using faux-limestone made from precast concrete to look similar to Washington's myriad of federal buildings and glass to provide transparency, designers claim that Nationals Park is an inclusive space, which promotes civic cohesion and economic growth along the Anacostia River. However, similar to the way that the practice of democracy diverges from Washington's democratic image as the city's 586,000 residents are denied political representation in the United States Congress, Nationals Park is actually an exclusionary space as high prices and highly segregated spaces belie the designers' stated intentions. This dissertation examines the contradictions between National Park's image and practice through exploring the spatial politics expressed in and through the process approving the stadium, the various economic redevelopment initiatives of Mayor Anthony Williams' administration, the stadium's architecture, and the elimination of the site's previous use as a sexually-oriented space catering to Washington's LGBT community. To do so, this dissertation utilizes the theories and methods of Henri Lefebvre, who examined space as being constitutive and reflective of dominant social relations towards changing those relations to create a more democratic society in which people could create their own lives free from exploitation and alienation. As such, this dissertation investigates Nationals Park not for its own sake, but as a lens through which to examine the ideologies and practices that define the relationships between governments and citizens, communities and individuals, and people with one another within the contemporary moment.