Twelfth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The choice of analysing the Olympic Games of Rome 1960 and Barcelona 1992 belongs to the conflicting and diverse impact generated on the two cities. These two editions created a significant urban transformation, which allows for a new critical perspective, concerning public services and management measures. I examine how management models either prevent or increase the exploitation of the intangible benefits, necessarily associated to the Olympic event. Olympic venues are at the hearth of the Olympic planning, as they constitute the citizens’ Olympic legacy. In fact, these venues’ seating capacity and their technology determine their future use and value among the citizens, possibly enhancing the sportive practice within the local community. The Olympic venues design, supported by a strong, public transportation system, is therefore of pivotal importance in order to develop a new and stable city economy able to imply its own resources and to limit the environmental impact as like as cost instability. My critical analysis, regarding these two mega- events, is carried out through the development of thirteen guidelines, aiming to offer effective criteria in order to guarantee not only an economic revenue but also intangible, future benefits. This investigation shows how cities may benefit from these intangible aspects, which develop as a consequence of both, the Olympic bid’s success and the infrastructural evolution. Only thanks to these new philosophies, cities and regions, as a consequence, may profit from the intangible benefits stemming from the Olympic games.