Durable and Ephemeral Legacy in the Olympic City
Author | : Samuel Maron |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 26 |
Release | : 2018 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1237578918 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 ( Downloads) |
Download or read book Durable and Ephemeral Legacy in the Olympic City written by Samuel Maron and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: City leaders are under growing pressure to defend their bids to host spectacle events like the Olympic Games, which are key to global city status and a goal for many. The concept of "event legacy" is now a dominant frame in host bids to minimize negative impacts and justify costs, particularly for event-specific infrastructure, such as new venues and athletes' villages. Yet it is also used to discuss leaving positive social and cultural impacts. Legacies are typically assessed in terms of their infrastructural impacts, but less is known about the development of social and cultural legacies. When Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, legacy was central to despite an unprecedented proposal to require no new construction. This project therefore asks, how is legacy discourse used in the Los Angeles 2024/2028 Olympics bid and early planning, if not tied to the physical form of the city? Using six semi-structured interviews with key informants, analysis of planning documents, and archival research, I show how the discourse of legacy was built in LA and shifted to reflect global priorities over time. I suggest that event legacies are at risk of being ephemeral if they are not backed by meaningful, structural change.