World Expositions Can Benefit or Haunt Host Cities
Summary of the Article
The article “World Expositions Can Benefit or Haunt Host Cities” has been written by Goergi Kantchev in New York Times. The basic notion behind the article is the idea that World Expo, which is usually considered an economic blessing for a country can turn into a nightmare, if it is not planned effectively. The author has presented historical facts backed by numerical data that why the World Expo becomes success and why it turns into failure. Historically, the countries that became host nations witness great infrastructural transformation. It gives myriad opportunities for investment and job creation. Not only these opportunities are related to financial benefits, but also it is a great tool to augment the global image of the country. For example, recently China hosted the event in 2010 and spent in the event more that it spent on Olympics. This event marked the novel global image of China as an upcoming global economic power. Expo helps the country to highlight its culture, people, and the economic environment. People coming in a country to display their products also explore the opportunity to invest in that particular country.
The article quotes the example of Louisiana, which hosted the event in 1984 but got bankrupt. The country lost millions of dollars due to low number of visitors and exhibitors. They hardly managed to keep the event open until the scheduled closing date through the financial assistance from United States. Louisiana remained heavily dependent on the historical data that almost all the countries that got the opportunity to host the World Expo managed to get the benefits in terms of international visitors and financial influx. This perception resulted in negative results, which still mark this event as the best example of being unsuccessful. The rulers of the country might have thought that it would become an exemplary event. The event became exemplary but it became an example of being the worst. This example clearly identifies that having the opportunity of exposition does not gives one the license of confirmed economic benefit, but it presents the economic risks as well. If things does not go the way as it was planned or the planning itself is not effective, there might be backlashes. Instead of a heroic image in the world, such cases incline the negative marketing of the country. The businesses, corporations, and entrepreneurs start doubting the regulatory effectiveness of the country. Therefore, the dreams of economic transformations shatter into rugs. The planning for the world expositions should be such that it must consider the post-event usage of the things. If some structures are built, the host country should realize how they are going to use the structure after the event ends. Alternatively, the planning should be done is a way that it ensures that the structure have its usability after the event finishes.
The article also emphasizes the role of Dubai as being the front-runner in the race of Expo 2020 as they expect to have the influx of 25 million visitors and create 270,000 jobs, if it gets the rights of hosting Expo 2020. Elucidation on Dubai under the notion of effective planning for World Expo highlights the need to look for sustainable solutions for guaranteeing economic benefit. Dubai has become a central place in Middle East, where all the business related exhibitions and tourism takes place. Dubai has become one of the most diverse places of the world. Unlike other countries, Dubai is a kind of country where most the people come for business or job related purpose. The diverse population of Dubai even enhances its probability of encourage more investors, visitors, and exhibitors. When China hosted the world expo, myriad structures that were built for the expo became useless after the event ended. The reason why many structures in China became useless post-event was due to lack of a sustainable thinking. They only planned for the event itself and lacked the the view on things that what will happen after the events ends. On the contrary, Milan planned a different strategy of using sustainable solutions in every aspect of the design. For instance, the material that they used in the pavilion was made up of eco-friendly material that can even be removed after the event. Having the element of long-term sustainability is an effective strategy to attain financial, social, and environmental benefits.
Critique on the Article
The way the author has presented his notion greatly supports his argument that the world expositions can benefit and haut the country. His explanation was not only based on his personal experiences or feelings, but it was backed by empirical evidence. Although, the author endeavored to convince the readers about his argument, but the empirical evidence that negates the benefits were few. The entire explanation of the world expo expounded the fact that almost all the countries that hosted the global event received the image and economic benefits. Not only job market and financial stability were enhanced, but it also assisted the country to enhance its economic profile in the world. The only fact that he had to represent its negative effect was the example of Louisiana that became bankrupt. Most of the events that the author presented in his argument were related to the countries, which greatly benefited from the expo. The argument further becomes weaker because most of the recent expositions were highly successful as well. There is a possibility that the economic benefits can be low or higher, but as the author explains, a haunting scenario is not mandatory.
The way the author has used the language to communicate his idea is excellent. He has used easy and simple words to cater to large chunk of audience. The flow of sentences connects every argument with each other. This connection of the discourse helps translate the idea into a way that expounds its meaning clearly. Not only he has covered the recent expo events, but he has also indirectly elucidated the history of the world expo as well. The historical context helps the reader to get the complete picture about what actually is World Expo, how it started, how it evolved, and what are the benefits and disadvantages of world expo. Not only the flow of the language is excellent, but also the way the author has presented the numerical facts further signifies his results.
The way writer has used the words in the article represents his arguments in a compact way by connecting history with the current situation. The writer supports his argument with the historical facts but does not clearly represent that why he thinks that the upcoming expo can be a nightmare for the exhibitor. The writer could have also touched the topic in way that highlights that how Dubai cannot succeed in getting economic and image benefit from the exhibition. As per records, Dubai has become a central place in Middle East, where all the business related exhibitions and tourism takes place. Dubai has become one of the most diverse places of the world. Unlike other countries, Dubai is a kind of country where most the people come for business or job related purpose. The diverse population of Dubai even enhances its probability to encourage more investors, visitors, and exhibitors. Many regional companies have formed their head offices in Dubai and all the high-profile companies of the world have at least one branch there. The way the writer has explained all the historical data and his argument in a brief way is excellent. The World Exposition is one of the largest and the oldest global event and expounding such rich historical event to support the argument is not an easy thing to do, but the writer does this with ease.
Conclusion of the Article
The article Goergi Kantchev identifies that having World Expo in a host country does not necessarily means economic growth and better global image. If the project is not planned well, it can haunt the host country as well. Instead of providing economic benefits, the turning out events can cause nightmares for the country with a shattering image globally. The article quotes the example of Louisiana, which hosted the event in 1984 but got bankrupt. The country lost millions of dollars due to low number of visitors and exhibitors. They hardly managed to keep the event open until the scheduled closing date from the financial assistance from United States. On the contrary, there is a high probability that the World Exposition helps transform the city infrastructure and gives it an image boost to encourage investors from around the world. If the country wants to get the financial and non-financial benefits of world expositions then the planning must be based on long-term sustainability. When expositions take place, the host country plans to engage the influx of exhibitors and visitors who visits the country, but it fails to realize about the post event planning. Most of the structures and systems are built considering the event itself that becomes a major problem after the event. The planning for the world expositions should be such that it must consider the post-event usage of the things. If some structures are built, the host country should realize how they are going to use the structure after the event ends. Alternatively, the planning should be done in a way that the structures should be developed in a way that it ensures its usability after the event finishes. Milan planned a different strategy of using sustainable solutions in every aspect of the design. For instance, the material that they used in the pavilion can is made up of eco-friendly material that can even be removed after the event. Sustainable thinking can minimize the financial risk and maximize the financial and non-financial benefits for any host country. It ensures a long-term economic growth that translates into higher human development for the host country.
Works Cited
Kantchev, Georgi. "World Expositions Can Benefit or Haunt Host Cities." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/technology/getting-a-seat-at-the-global-table-fora-price.html?_r=1&>.
