ABSTRACT
Urban regeneration is often cited as one of main justifications for staging the Olympic Games. Regeneration ‘legacies’ have been principally pursued by the hosts of Summer Games, but recent cases suggest they are increasingly relevant to the Winter Games too. There are even examples where urban regeneration has been influenced by losing Olympic bids (Smith, 2012). The aim of this chapter is to explore how and why the Olympic Games are used as a vehicle for regeneration. Through this analysis, the chapter is able to draw important conclusions not only about the contemporary Games, but also about urban regeneration processes in general. Regeneration can be understood as a discourse as well as a practice and an outcome and, as such, this chapter analyses commonly expressed rhetoric such as the notion that staging the Olympic Games provides ‘flagship’ urban projects and ‘catalysts’ for regeneration. The discussion focuses particularly on those Games which were staged on post-industrial sites: Barcelona 1992, Sydney 2000, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. Rather than discussing these cases in turn, the chapter is organized around themes that help clarify the complex relationship between the Olympic Games and urban regeneration.
