The symbolic value of megaprojects in urban and regional development

Across both industrialised and emerging economies worldwide, megaprojects have become important drivers of economic development. These large-scale ventures take diverse forms across multiple sectors, from cultural institutions and infrastructure to energy systems and industrial development (Huda, 2022; Lauermann, 2019; Müller, 2011; Sovacool et al., 2023). Due to their exorbitant costs, extraordinary complexity and transformative ambitions, megaprojects consistently attract scrutiny. While early criticisms primarily focused on financial sustainability and public expenditure burdens, contemporary debates have increasingly centered on their symbolic value. Megaprojects serve as powerful but contested symbols, with their meanings evolving throughout the project lifecycle. Different stakeholders ascribe competing values to these ventures, making their symbolic significance inherently unstable. This special issue advances a new generation of megaproject research that examines this volatility of symbolic value. Through cases ranging from Tesla factories and TikTok data centres in Scandinavia to transportation and waterfront regeneration in Latin America, and from new city developments in China and the Middle East to global infrastructure projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative, our contributors analyse how megaprojects’ purported symbolism, as economic saviours, sustainability champions or manifestations of geopolitical ambitions, is persistently contested. Ultimately, the fluctuating symbolic value mirrors shifting visions of urban-regional futures and explains the rise and fall of megaprojects.