City as a Cultural Economy Mega Events: The Olympic Games By Maria Jørgensen Economic Geography Dr. Gordon Winder
Outline The Olympic Games historic overview Why bid for the Olympics The stages of the Olympics Does it pay off Will it work for London Anti Olympic movements Conclusion
Mega-events Mega-event: A one-time festival that achieve sufficient size and scope to affect whole economies and receive sustained global media attention.
The history of the Olympic Games 1851-1939: Competition between nations Side-show to the World Fair No important landmark legacy 1948-1984: Competition between nations Rising importance Landmark legacy and beginning urban planning 1984-2000?: Competition between cities The Mega-event Part of urban planning Surplus
Why bid for the Olympics? enhanced name reputation new globally recognized image additional infrastructure and other redevelopment boost of tourism in the long run Sport facilities and other amenities built for the Olympics Short-term stimulus of construction before the event Visitor spending during the event. National Grants that would have come later or never come at all
The stages of the Olympics 1. Bidding for the game: Starts long before the actual game Costs a lot of money Can end up fruitlessly Requires support from the people Meeting the demands of the IOC
London vs. New York London Political support from the Prime Minister, the Mayor and Municipal Government General update of sub-way and railway net, plus new railway line 33 venues in 3 clusters 13 new (4 temporary) Olympic Village in the Olympic Park (3,500 apartments) The Olympic park is a rehabilitation of old industrial area and all new venues are build under strickt principles of sustainability New York Political support from the City and State of New York as well as the US. Government New railway line X plan 31 venues spread out - 12 new (3 temporary) Olympic Village in Queens by the waterfront (4,400 apartments) payed by mixed private and public investments Environmental improvements of riverbanks and rowing venue is a rehabilitation of a lake
The bidding process 1. IOC receives the cities first draft of their plans 2. The IOC candidature acceptance working group (CAWG) presents a report to the IOC executive board 3. The executive board elect the candidate cities which move on to phase 2. 4. The candidate cities submit their Candidature file an in dept description of the plans 5. The IOC Evaluation Commission writes a report 6. Based on the report, the IOC members vote to find the winning city
The stages of the Olympics 2. Preparation: Construction work Environment Press Keep the public support Politics keeping the promises
The stages of the Olympics 3. Hosting: a two week festival/or hell? 4. Legacy: Reliefing the sence of loss Preservation of the history and organisational legacy Reaping the fruits of publicity The Olympic venues and infrastructure
Does it pay off? The LA legacy $9,6b. tourism impact $225m. surplus Airport constructions Fiber optics infrastructure ($100m.) Upgraded sport facilities Amateur Athletic Foundation of LA fund (40% of surplus) The Atlanta legacy $5b. Tourism impact $650m. in new construction $609m. federal funds Expanded tourism industry International sport presence
Will it work for London? Plans for London Redevelopment of East London Olympic village in Stratford Improvements in transportation systems Making the first sustainable game Make a new image of London as an open, multiracial and dynamic world city A secure game Risks and critique of London The redevelopment of East London would happen anyway Sustainability is expensive and takes time There is a lot at stake and any negative press or problems in the organization can create a negative image A terrorist attack will be catastrophic
Anti Olympics movements General critiques of the Olympics Relocation of residents and businesses Environmental dammage Distribution of profits Too comercial?
Conclusion There are positive and negative impacts of hosting the game If the planning is good and all aspects are taken into account the positive can outweigh the negative effects but if we are in a new phase of the games a lot more are at risk considering the global ranking
References John R. Gold & Margaret M. Gold (2008): Olympic Cities: Regeneration, City Rebranding and Changing Urban Agendas. Geography Compass. (2) Noam Shoval (2002): A new phase in the competition for the olympic gold: The London and New York bids for the 2012 games. Journal of urban affairs. (3) Peter Newman (2007): Back the bid: The 2012 summer Olympics and the governance of London. Journal of urban affairs. (4) www.olympic.org - the official website of the Olympic Movement Richard Cashman (2002): Impact of the Games on Olympic host cities. Centre d'estudies Olimpics. (5) Report by the IOC candidature acceptance working group to the executive board (2004): Games of the XXXOlympiad in 2012.