The Calgary 2026 Olympic Bid Plebiscite as Affective Urbanism

Abstract

An analysis of the Calgary 2026 Olympic bid plebiscite/referendum held in 2018 adds a new perspective to the literature on bidding by shifting from the cognitive/organizational elements of the bid to the emotive dynamics within the bid city conceptualized as affective urbanism. The socioeconomic and political context and the binary nature of the plebiscite question provide the framework to explain the negative vote. Using the civic discourse of local residents as data for the study, the public emotions created by confusion, fear, and anger are identified, which resulted in two opposing but competitive affective voting options: affirming affectivity and aversive affectivity. A binary reversal made a negative vote into an instrument of power and a positive affirmation of the city’s future.