The international and commercialised recognition of the Olympic Games can bring upon prestigious benefits to a country's Olympic Games legacy. Due to this, candidate cities have capitalised on this opportunity to leverage their bids to successfully secure hosting rights. Consequently, this has commodified the bidding process, which has intensified the competition and the declining number of bids over recent years. Thus, jeopardising the legitimacy of the Olympic Games bids to its true values of Olympism. Hence, utilising a semi-systematic literature review, this thesis aims to investigate the extent and in what ways the Olympic Games bids have embodied the values of Olympism. Specifically exploring within three case-study examples; the Beijing 2008; the London 2012; and the Rio De Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Adopting a thematic analysis and theoretical framework, findings have noted four overarching themes that influence the leveraging of bids; Economical, Political, Globalisation and the Public (Social). Further, and to a vague extent, the selected Olympic Games bids embodied the values of Olympism as secondary and appear to be a by-product of a prominent agenda that reflects the ebb and flow of politics and economics of the respective host-city. Interestingly, by examining the Olympism philosophy and legacy this may not be an issue due to its abstract construction and lack of precision, which has enabled great flexibility. As a resolution, this thesis calls for the values to be measurable and the implementation of evaluative committees that span beyond the Olympic Games to ensure Olympism values and its legacy is embodied successfully.

Numerous rhetorical critics have employed the narrative paradigm for analysis; however, it has not been applied to Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Special Olympics. Within the Special Olympics lies rhetoric rich with meaning. As the founder of the Special Olympics Shriver held the power to create an identity not just for the Games, but for those with intellectual disabilities. Creating an identity for a marginalized group, she not only had to craft her speeches for the athletes, but also for the world outside the Special Olympics. This study provides an evaluation of five Shriver addresses to the Special Olympics that took place between 1987 and 2003. Using the narrative paradigm, along with the concept of dynamic spectacle, this literature highlights Shriver's crafting of a communal identity. In demonstrating Shriver's ability to create a communal identity, I provide a framework for future research to study rhetorically crafted identities and communities. / Master of Arts

This thesis began by studying how a temporary event could create permanent architecture and how that architecture could change an urban lifestyle. I chose the Olympics as the event and proposed that they be held in Washington D.C., a city of international prominence with a rich design history but a city that hasn't had a large scale urban redevelopment plan in over a century. I focused on the city east of the Capitol as I wanted to extend the monumental core created in the McMillan plan. I researched baroque design, Olympic planning, and even the original L'Enfant plan. The result of this research was unearthing some of the original L'Enfant design elements and incorporating them into a 21st century city by blending new design issues with the idea of a city designed around radial vistas with magnificent termini. I focused on two sites, the Olympic Torch and the Olympic Stadium. The Torch is situated as a terminus on a site that was intended to be mile marker zero for the country. Its design and importance make it a monument while still not impeding the views. The stadium was created to serve as a stadium for the people, allowing pedestrians outside to view and interact with the event inside. It is sunken so as not to obstruct views but it is spanned by arches that pierce the cityscape signifying its monumentality and appropriately ending the monumental axis started with the Lincoln Memorial on the western edge of the city. / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Sport is a cultural phenomenon that has spread throughout the world (Harvey & Houle, 1994). For youth, sport is perceived as a context that can play a major role in person’s psychosocial development across their life-span (Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 2007). However, despite the increase in research in this field, very little work has examined how sport may play a role in the psychosocial development of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Moreover, an area of study that has also grown related to the lived experiences of individuals living with a disability including ID is social inclusion (SI). Similar to research related to psychosocial development, very little research has been conducted to examine whether the context of sport can foster social inclusion for youth with ID. Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is an organization “dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport” (SOC, 2010, “SOC Mission Statement”, para.1) and may be an organization that has the potential to positively impact the lives of its youth participants. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine whether stakeholders perceived SO as impacting the psychosocial development and social inclusion. The results indicated that SO, by all stakeholders, is perceived as an organization that is facilitating the psychosocial development of its athletes through the incorporation of strong social support networks and the development of life skills. In addition, SO was perceived as facilitating social inclusion for youth, particularly in the context of school and their surrounding community.

Sport is a cultural phenomenon that has spread throughout the world (Harvey & Houle, 1994). For youth, sport is perceived as a context that can play a major role in person’s psychosocial development across their life-span (Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 2007). However, despite the increase in research in this field, very little work has examined how sport may play a role in the psychosocial development of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Moreover, an area of study that has also grown related to the lived experiences of individuals living with a disability including ID is social inclusion (SI). Similar to research related to psychosocial development, very little research has been conducted to examine whether the context of sport can foster social inclusion for youth with ID. Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is an organization “dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport” (SOC, 2010, “SOC Mission Statement”, para.1) and may be an organization that has the potential to positively impact the lives of its youth participants. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine whether stakeholders perceived SO as impacting the psychosocial development and social inclusion. The results indicated that SO, by all stakeholders, is perceived as an organization that is facilitating the psychosocial development of its athletes through the incorporation of strong social support networks and the development of life skills. In addition, SO was perceived as facilitating social inclusion for youth, particularly in the context of school and their surrounding community.

Sport is a cultural phenomenon that has spread throughout the world (Harvey & Houle, 1994). For youth, sport is perceived as a context that can play a major role in person’s psychosocial development across their life-span (Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 2007). However, despite the increase in research in this field, very little work has examined how sport may play a role in the psychosocial development of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Moreover, an area of study that has also grown related to the lived experiences of individuals living with a disability including ID is social inclusion (SI). Similar to research related to psychosocial development, very little research has been conducted to examine whether the context of sport can foster social inclusion for youth with ID. Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is an organization “dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport” (SOC, 2010, “SOC Mission Statement”, para.1) and may be an organization that has the potential to positively impact the lives of its youth participants. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine whether stakeholders perceived SO as impacting the psychosocial development and social inclusion. The results indicated that SO, by all stakeholders, is perceived as an organization that is facilitating the psychosocial development of its athletes through the incorporation of strong social support networks and the development of life skills. In addition, SO was perceived as facilitating social inclusion for youth, particularly in the context of school and their surrounding community.

This disertation focuses on people with mental disabilities, the way in which they could be integrated into society, and possibilites for them to achieve their sporting ambitions within the Paralympics.This research would not have been possible to carry out without the information obtained from the Research Library of South Bohemiaand its archives in Ceske Budejovice.The first part of this research explains what mental disabilities can consist of. It gives a detailed definition of mental disabilities, talks about different types of mental disabilities and its characteristics, and the influence these characteristics might have on an individual's personality. Furthermore, it talks about what causes mental disabilities to occur, how it develops throughout an individual's life, and how to possibly prevent such occurances. An important part of this research involves discussions concerning individuals with Down Syndrom and Authism, what causes these disabilities, and the different behaviours that are visible what causes these disabilities, and the different behaviours that are visible amongst these cases. The second part of the research discusses the Paralympics, in particular the Czech Association of Paralympics. It concentrates on the organisation's structure, its foundation, as well as looking at the goals and different activites it covers. \\

Sport is a cultural phenomenon that has spread throughout the world (Harvey & Houle, 1994). For youth, sport is perceived as a context that can play a major role in person’s psychosocial development across their life-span (Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 2007). However, despite the increase in research in this field, very little work has examined how sport may play a role in the psychosocial development of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Moreover, an area of study that has also grown related to the lived experiences of individuals living with a disability including ID is social inclusion (SI). Similar to research related to psychosocial development, very little research has been conducted to examine whether the context of sport can foster social inclusion for youth with ID. Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is an organization “dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport” (SOC, 2010, “SOC Mission Statement”, para.1) and may be an organization that has the potential to positively impact the lives of its youth participants. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine whether stakeholders perceived SO as impacting the psychosocial development and social inclusion. The results indicated that SO, by all stakeholders, is perceived as an organization that is facilitating the psychosocial development of its athletes through the incorporation of strong social support networks and the development of life skills. In addition, SO was perceived as facilitating social inclusion for youth, particularly in the context of school and their surrounding community.

This thesis analyses ethnographic data gathered during participant observation within two vernacular town carnivals in East Devon and Dorset during 2012 and within the professional Cartwheelin’ and Battle for the Winds street performances which were staged as part of the Maritime Mix programme of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad at Weymouth. The thesis presents qualitative perspectives with regard to the cultural performance of carnival in the fieldwork area, in order to analyse the ‘performativity’ of carnival in these contexts: how it enacts and embodies a range of instrumentalities with regard to notions of community, culture and place. The thesis serves to unpack the ‘performance efficacy’ of carnival within the wider political and cultural landscape of the UK in the early 21st century, revealing the increasing influence of institutional policy on its aesthetics and cultural performance. By way of contrast, the thesis also asserts the value of vernacular carnivalesque street performance as a contestation of hegemonic notions of ‘art’, ‘place’ and ‘culture’. The ethnographies of both vernacular and professional carnival practice presented in the thesis show how the instrumentalities of carnival are employed as cultural performances and as symbolic constructions of place, power and policy. These ethnographies reveal the contradictory ‘efficacy’ of carnival: how it functions both as a symbolic expression of a progressive, rhizomatic sense of place and also as a normative performance of vertical symbolic power and place-identity. The thesis offers a cultural geography of carnival as praxis in the south west UK, locating it within specific geographical, historical and socio-cultural contexts which have developed since the late 19th century. The thesis also offers a productive contribution to the emerging dialogue between cultural geography and performance studies through its analysis of the performativities of participants’ affective, carnivalesque experience: an analysis which articulates how people ritualise and perform the multiple boundaries between individual and community identities through carnival. Further, the thesis considers the means by which people present and enact particular symbolic representations of place and identity through their carnival performances, both in professional and non-professional contexts. In its conclusion and recommendations, the thesis seeks to frame these ethnographies within a critique of carnival practice which is considered through the contested geographies of the ‘creative economy’. It seeks to demonstrate how culture-led processes of policy enactment are increasingly critical influences within carnival and arts development in rural and small-town contexts and within place-based strategies of public engagement. Further, the thesis seeks to consider the effects that this hegemony has on ‘vernacular’ practices of carnival. The thesis adds a further voice to those cultural geographers who warn about the diminishing public space which is now available to people for spontaneous, ‘non-productive’ carnival festivity in the context of globalised late capitalism and ‘applied’ culture. Finally, the thesis offers a proposed remedy: a re-imagination of progressive structures of public engagement through culture; structures which support ‘vernacular’ practice alongside the instrumentalities of arts-development and public policies of place, in tune with a growing alternative discourse which seeks to ‘rethink the cultural economy.