After a successful opening ceremony for London 2012 and a day of sporting events out of the way, This Big City and Future Cape Town got online last Monday for the latest in our monthly series of #citytalk tweetchats to discuss Olympic cities of the past, present, and future. As ever, it was a lively discussion full of great ideas. Here’s eight of our favourite moments:
Olympics and economics
With a lot of talk about the expense of hosting the Olympics, and the seemingly endless debate over whether it has any economic benefit for a city (and according to this article, it doesn’t), we kicked off by asking: Is economic benefit the most important measure for how worthwhile it is for a city to host the Olympics?
A1 absolutely not. What about the community building and social development a host city gains?
#CityTalk— Mitchel Loring (@MLLoring) July 30, 2012
Urban branding
Barcelona used the 1992 Olympics to transform perceptions of the city, and east London is arguably benefitting in a similar way from London 2012. So is hosting the Olympics the ideal way to improve an urban brand? We weren’t so sure:
@adamnowek true a lot is out of a city’s control. Has London’s brand been damaged by the private security firm that let it down?#citytalk— Joe Peach (@thisbigcity) July 30, 2012
The good and the bad of London 2012
Despite only being a few days in at the point of our tweetchat, we still took the opportunity to ask what people felt London had done well, and what coud have been done better. Let’s start with the good:
A3 I think London has earned an enviable reputation for trying to be very environmentally conscious with these games.
#Citytalk— Mitchel Loring (@MLLoring) July 30, 2012
And the not so good:
A3: Ease up on security. The rooftop missiles show that the UK remains the ultimate surveillance state.
#citytalk#London2012#olympics— Adam Nowek (@adamnowek) July 30, 2012
Future use of sports venues
There’s a reason the London 2012 Basketball arena is a temporary construction – such a venue simply wouldn’t get enough use post-Games. So what can cities do to ensure their sports venues continue to serve a real purpose? One option would be to think beyond sport (with the Oval in Vancouver cited many times as a great example):
A4: Cities could unbox thinking of Olympic Venues as solely sports venues. They could be beautiful, multi-functional facilities.
#citytalk— Dinika Govender (@DrivingMissD) July 30, 2012
And of course, cities could always follow to London 2012 model from now on:
A4 Success: Build more temporary stadiums, use land post-Games as basis for fully integrated, park-oriented development
#citytalk#cplan— urbandata (@urbandata) July 30, 2012
What next for Olympic villages? A similar dilemma applies for the mass of accommodation built for a city’s sporting guests. What approach could cities take when considering the future of their Olympic villages? Vancouver got another mention here:
<A5> Modular housing in Whistler for
#Vancouver2010 now low income housing in Victoria.#citytalk#yvr#yyj#olympics — J Rockerbie (@Jackerbie) July 30, 2012
Rio 2016’s approach to its Olympic Village generated some debate:
@futurecapetown A5 Rio isnt building affordable housing in Barra, they are displacing local favela residents to the outskirts#citytalk— claudia_paulina (@claudia_paulina) July 30, 2012
Transport legacy With hundreds of thousands of people all trying to get to the same place, the challenge of providing a transport solution for the Games is immense. But what do you once all visitors are gone? How can cities ensure their transport investments make sense for citizens in the post-Olympic city? Our verdict? Think local, be scalable:
A6 Citizens should be the priority. They will be left with the infrastructure. If needed, create temporary
#olympic transit.#citytalk — Renée van Staveren (@GlobalSitePlans) July 30, 2012
The future of the Olympic Park
Does an Olympic Park development – where most sporting facilities are all together on one site – make sense any more? Is it the best way to use a city’s space and utilities? Perhaps not:
A7. I don’t think the all-in-one approach showcases the city appropriately, nor makes it easy for reuse after the Games
#citytalk— courtney claessens (@sidewalkballet) July 30, 2012
London has seen both an Olympic Park development and considerable use of existing sporting facilities across the city (and the whole country):
Q7 If attempting to utilize preexisting facilities, it is probably impossible in most cities.
#CityTalk— Mitchel Loring (@MLLoring) July 30, 2012
What about Rio 2016?
With the next Olympics just around the corner, we finished our discussion by asking what Rio can learn from recent games. Somewhat unsurprisingly, community engagement was mentioned as a key factor in a successful Games. How do you think Rio are doing in this respect?
A8: Rio, make these Olympics for everybody. If you engage the community early, they will see 2016 as beneficial in the long run.
#citytalk— Adam Nowek (@adamnowek) July 30, 2012
<A8> Dear Rio 2016+ use iconic sites, and build for citizens, rather than only for the Olympic Games.
#citytalk— futurecapetown.com (@futurecapetown) July 30, 2012