By Lee Yan Li
Major development projects in Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympic Games have met with a lot of criticism.
WITH all its gold and glory, hosting the Olympic Games meant painstaking logistic preparation and city planning. The desire to present the city’s best does not always generate long-term benefits for the urban development.
In fact, poorly planned infrastructure development, mismatch of property prices and affordability, forced evacuation and human right abuses have often graced the press coverage related to Olympics.
As the Rio Olympics is drawing to a close, it is worth looking back at the legacies left behind by the Olympic Games to its host cities.
Rio Olympics Games 2016
Rio de Janeiro has ambitiously attempted to reshape the city by constructing and upgrading bus rapid transit lines and metro rail, city’s port, major highway as well as undergoing a number of urban renewal projects.
However, the preparations are largely reported to fall behind schedule including problems such as gas leaks, gushing toilets and electrical shorts at Olympic Village. Critics have also protested the inequitable distribution of developments favoured big developers and the affluent population rather than serving the poor.
Despite a disastrous start with unfavourable coverage, Rio persevered with “the show must go on” attitude.
London Olympics 2012
London’s resolution to leave a positive legacy of Olympics has seen its approximately RM60bil spending focusing on developing the poorer part of the city, East London. It is often billed as a success story, though rising property values also created concerns that affordable housing is increasingly unattainable.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was recently quoted saying, “I am not sure we have got the benefits out of the Olympics we should have done in relation to affordable homes or in relation to the number of homes.”
Beijing Olympics 2008
It was reported that China spent approximately RM160bil from 2002 to 2006 to transform Beijing. Critics claimed 1.5 million people were forced out of their homes to prepare for the mega-event, although Chinese authorities countered the number with a figure of approximately 6,000 displaced residents.
While the Beijing Olympics was a spectacle to behold, the famous Bird’s Nest stadium has found little purpose after the games, costing an annual maintenance fee of approximately RM44mil.
Athens Olympics 2004
The Athens Olympics has been cited as one of the factors of the Greek government-debt crisis. Costing approximately RM40bil at the time, Athens managed to derive certain improvement in city developments in the form of a new airport, an expansion of new tram and subway lines, new roads and highways and new pedestrian access to the main archaeological sites.
However, most projects and facilities built to cater to the games have been little of use since the Olympics. The baseball and hockey stadiums were recently turned into refugee camps.
Barcelona Olympics 1992
A poster child for successful urban regeneration, the Olympics reinvigorated the neglected city and turned Barcelona into a popular tourist destination, though a study reported the cost overrun at 266 percent. There are still some concerns that the supply of affordable housing is lacking.
Tokyo Olympics 1964 & 2020
When Japan became the first Asian nation to host the Modern Olympics in 1964, it left numerous legacy that continues to benefit the local population. The construction of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen bullet train between Osaka and Tokyo that has serviced billions of passengers is just one of the shinning legacies.
Set to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, the city officials are using this opportunity to speed up its urban projects, including the rebuilding of the damaged Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway.
*For Chinese articles, download Property Trends at Google Play/iTunes, or subscribe to WeChat.
**Subscribe to StarProperty.my on Facebook for the latest updates.
***Want to contribute articles to StarProperty.my? Email editor@starproperty.my.
