The planning and governance of the Expo 2015 and the post-event : the growth of a new awareness-overcoming the state of exception

Planning and governing mega-events such as the World’s Fairs
represent an ambitious and challenging task: not only for the required
urban, infrastructural, and logistic implications, but also for the multiplicity
of actors, powers, and interests at stake. Therefore, extraordinary
policy measures are often introduced to deal with this complexity, as well
as to satisfy goals and demands of the international governing bodies
such as the Expo’s BIE. This chapter tries to retrace the governance and
procedural aspects of the Milan Expo 2015. Indeed, this is a useful case
study to critically discuss also the institutional mechanisms adopted during
the organizational process of the mega-events in the framework of
the current debate about the frequent use—and risks—of an extraordinary
approach to planning decisions.