ABSTRACT
This chapter studies Sydney’s experience as an Olympic city from the perspective of cultural policy and planning. In previous work I have argued that culture and the arts play a critical role in defining the Games’ symbolic dimensions and are determining factors in the sustainability of event legacies (see García, 2002b, 2003, 2004; Moragas 1992). In this context, interpreting Sydney’s cultural discourse is fundamental to understanding how the city was experienced during the Olympic fortnight and the kinds of images that it projected to the rest of the world in its lead-up and aftermath.
