UID:
edoccha_9960809470602883
Format:
1 online resource (xvi, 288 pages) :
,
illustrations
Content:
Contemporary Archaeology of London's Mega Events explores the traces of London's most significant modern 'mega events'. Though only open for a few weeks or months, mega events permanently and disruptively reshape their host cities and societies: they demolish and rebuild whole districts, they draw in materials and participants from around the globe and their organisers self-consciously seek to leave a 'legacy' that will endure for decades or more. With London as his case study, Jonathan Gardner argues that these spectacles must be seen as long-lived and persistent, rather than simply transient or short-term. Using a novel methodology drawn from the field of contemporary archaeology - the archaeology of the recent past and present-day - a broad range of comparative studies are used to explore the long-term history of each event. These include the contents and building materials of the Great Exhibition's Crystal Palace and their extraordinary 'afterlife' at Sydenham, South London; how the Festival of Britain's South Bank Exhibition employed displays of ancient history to construct a new post-war British identity; and how London 2012, as the latest of London's mega events, dealt with competing visions of the past as archaeology, waste and heritage in its efforts to create a positive legacy for future generations.
Note:
1. Introduction: Mega events as time machines -- 2. Mega methodologies -- 3. 1851: Rematerialising the Great Exhibition -- 4. All that is solid melts: The Crystal Palace at Sydenham,1854-2021 -- 5. Rebuilding the past at the South Bank Exhibition and the Festival of Britain, 1951 -- 6. Games Time: London 2012 and the absent present -- 7. Legacy or heritage? Making time in the post-Olympic city -- 8. Discussion: The contemporary archaeology of mega events.
Additional Edition:
ISBN 1-80008-242-8
Language:
English
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