•  
  •  
 
Spectrum

Publication Date

9-1-2012

Abstract

Recently, cities around the globe have become involved in a competition for obtaining the title of the most “powerful” city in the world. Hosting mega-events, like the Olympics allow for these cities to restructure the entire floor plan of their metropolis. The Olympic games are well-known global events that occur within a smaller scale local landscape; therefore, the landscape undergoes many changes due to the drastic measures the games entail, as well as the goals for the landscape, economy, and residents post-Olympics.

While looking at these landscapes, it is important to remember that the individual shapes the landscape, while the landscape itself influences and shapes the individuals who reside there (Tilley 1996:162). The landscape of the Olympics is structured around human desires and political interests, while in turn, the reconstructed landscape, reshapes the memories, meanings, and conceptions the residents associate with the area itself. The built landscape of the Olympic can be understood as a conceptual, ideational, and a constructed landscape through the instilled memories, political associations, aesthetic appeal, and the outcomes of the newly shaped area. In this paper I analyze the Olympics in terms of its effects on a city by using analytical categories of conceptual, ideational, and a constructed landscape. I consider the desirability of becoming host city, the transformation of the land not only to support the event itself, but also in relation to the functioning use of the land post-Olympic, as well as how monuments, places, and cohesive events instill a stronger sense of social solidarity and unity through emotional connections.

Download

Share

COinS