Beyond the ceremony: Mega-event, air quality and political career

Fang, Li, He, Pan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1088-6290, Tian, Chuanhao, Yao, Yao and Chen, Hongjie 2022. Beyond the ceremony: Mega-event, air quality and political career. PLoS ONE 17 (2) , e0262470. 10.1371/journal.pone.0262470

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Abstract

This paper examines whether mega-events-initiated planning regulations improved air quality in Chinese cities and explores the driving forces of the enforcement of such regulations. Using the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an example, we find that mega-events serve as an opportunity for cities to combat air pollution. The 2008 Olympics prompted a handful of Chinese cities to cut pollution and sustain a blue sky: Cities with air quality regulated for the Olympics cut their Air Pollution Index by about 16 points during the Games, compared to non-regulated cities, and 60% of that effect remained four years after the event. These achievements are obtained through effective mobilization of city leaders by associating air quality with their political careers. This study reveals that 1) a mega-event may improve urban environmental quality beyond the host cities and the event period, and 2) successful implementation of environmental regulations hinges on incentivizing local leaders.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Additional Information:	This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	11 March 2022
Date of Acceptance:	23 December 2021
Last Modified:	14 May 2023 22:18
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/148320

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