Christopher T Gaffney

Clinical Professor

Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality

Education
  • PHD, University of Texas at Austin
Contact Info

Christopher Gaffney is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Tisch Center for Hospitality in the School of Professional Studies at New York University. A Vermont-born, Texas-trained geographer, Gaffney has taught in Taiwan, Brazil, Switzerland, and at several universities the United States. His earlier work focused on the intersection of urban studies and sports mega-events. Gaffney´s 2008 monograph, Temples of the Earthbound Gods, explored the interdigitation of urban development and sporting cultures in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Gaffney served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Latin American Geography from 2014-2018, guiding the journal´s award-winning transformation. Gaffney has appeared in a slew of documentary films and is often quoted in the world´s leading media outlets. Gaffney ran an influential blog in the lead up to the 2016 Olympics, Hunting White Elephants, and has written extensively on the impacts and realpolitik of sports mega-events across numerous formats. Prior to joining NYU in 2018, Gaffney was the Project Manager for Team Rubicon's disaster relief efforts in post-Maria Puerto Rico.

Currently, Gaffney is working on three streams of research: Global Tourism Risk, Regenerative Tourism Design, and Global Nomadism.

Nov 01 2021

The Mega-Events Database: Systematising the Evidence on Mega-Event Outcomes, 1-9

By Leisure Studies
Apr 01 2021

An Evaluation of the Sustainability of the Olympic Games, 4 (4): 340-48

By Nature Sustainability
Feb 01 2021

Geoporn: Spectacular Reproduction in Olympic Rio De Janeiro

By Sport in Society
Aug 01 2020

Reading Sami Moisio's Geopolitics of the Knowledge-Based Economy

By Political Geography
Jul 01 2020

COVID-19 and Tourism Risk in the Americas, vol. 19 no. 3, 150 - 54

By Journal of Latin American Geography
Apr 01 2020

The Tokyo 2020 Games and the End of Olympic History

By Capitalism Nature Socialism
Jan 01 2020

Conclusion, In Olimpismo: The Olympic Movement in the Making of Latin America and the Caribbean

By University of Arkansas Press
Jan 01 2020

Maraca! The Death and Life of a Global Icon

By Rassegna Di Architettura e Urbanistica
Jul 01 2019

Not for Beginners, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 176 - 178

By Dialogues in Human Geography
Jan 01 2019

Sports Mega Events and Democracy: Socio-Spatial Dynamics in Rio, In The Business and Culture of Sports: Society, Politics, Economy, Environment, Vol 4, 137-52

By Macmillan Publishers
Jan 01 2019

Sports, Mega Events, and Security, In The Business and Culture of Sports: Society, Politics, Economy, Environment, Vol 3, 383-98

By Macmillan Publishers
Dec 01 2018

Can We Blame It on Rio?

By Bulletin of Latin American Research
Oct 01 2018

Letter From the Editor, vol. 17 no. 3, p. 6-7

By Journal of Latin American Geography
Jul 01 2018

Letter From the Editor, vol. 17 no. 2, p. 5-5

By Journal of Latin American Geography
May 01 2018

Comparing the Urban Impacts of the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games From 2010 to 2016, Vol 42, Issue 4, 247-69

By Journal of Sport and Social Issues
Apr 01 2018

Letter From the Editor, vol. 17 no. 1, p. 5-6

By Journal of Latin American Geography
Jan 01 2018

Globalization and Mega-Events: Thinking through Flows, 296-305

By Edward Elgar Publishing
Jan 01 2018

Scrutinizing Global Mega-Events, 125-37

By SAGE Publications
Jan 01 2008

A. Temples of the Earthbound Gods

By University of Texas Press