Assessing with Brazilian experts sustainable urban planning processes for olympics host city: the case of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This paper assesses urban planning processes and stages that should be taken to achieve a sustainable Olympic Games hosting. Sport mega-events especially Olympics are historically considered such factors that effect on design of the cities, and consequently urban life is direct and indirectly affected. A review of the history of modern Olympic Games roles in urban changes revealed that Olympic-related urbanization has developed with regard to content, scale, form and complexity (Liao and Pitts, 2006). The trend began shifting from new buildings and urban parks into a comprehensive transformation of the urban environment (Pedranti, 2012). Consequently, a strong relationship has been created between the Olympic Games and city physical changes. These are related not only to sport infrastructures, but also with upgrading urban mobility, tourist accommodation development, urban infrastructures and facilities improvement (green spaces, urban spaces) and environmental improvement. The design of cities plays a significant role in relation to the impacts of urban sustainable changes.

The aim of this paper is to elaborate on urban planning process in hosting a sustainable Olympic Games. The research is conducted through the following steps:

i) to develop Olympic-led sustainable urban planning process requirements;

ii) to investigate whether the Rio urban planning process incorporating the 2016 Olympics, from bidding till post-Games period, has been effective enhancing sustainability in the development of Rio´s urban areas.

The urban planning processes were validated by applying them to the Olympic zones of Rio de Janeiro. If the objective of a city is not merely hosting the Games as a transient and one-off event but also to improve the city in a sustainable way, thus, it should be determined what type of changes it can support (Chalkley & Essex, 1999; Hiller, 2006). Even Barcelona and Sydney both struggled in the post-event period, despite their Olympics were recognized as the most successful (Cashman, 2006; Smith, 2009a). Therefore, the main question is how the Olympic Games can contribute to the process of urban sustainable transformation, through event planning and minimization of their negative consequences. There is much more empirical and theoretical research on Olympics and their impacts on host cities in economic, social-cultural, physical and environmental dimensions, but, this paper suggests an investigation on the urban planning process in relation to the Olympics. This is an innovative approach that has not been addressed before.

In this study, a qualitative technique was employed for investigating Olympic-related urban planning processes. The research started from an in-depth international literature review of the sport mega-events urban planning processes. Relevant articles were searched from 1995 until 2018. The structured review of event-related urban planning process focused on following key words such as 'sport mega-event impacts', 'Olympics', 'Olympic city transformation', 'Olympic legacy', 'Olympic transportation development' and 'Olympic urban planning' in the title or abstract fields. A Google search was also used to obtain relevant reports, e.g. from governmental and other institutional sources. The combined searches identified more than 600 articles that were analyzed according to the following methodology:

1) screening of key elements of strategic planning processes relevant to Olympics and urban planning requirements from bidding till after the Olympic Games. Steps involved in an effective Olympic urban planning process in pre-event phases are: site selection, land use planning and their activities, spatial structure and urban landscape and transport improvement; and, post-event phases include alignment planning and maintenance management;

2) In the last stage of the research, Olympic urban planning process was applied to Rio 2016 Olympic zones to evaluate the factors involved in event urban planning process and implementation. In this regards, compliance or non-compliance of Olympic zones planning with urban planning elements were determined.

The impacts were also evaluated taking into account the opinions of several Brazilian experts assembled at ABRATUR Forum, in 2015, about the Olympics in the city of Rio de Janeiro. A synthesis of the results of the survey will be presented. One of the main outputs of the written questionnaires that were handed back is that the results of the survey show the same results as the literature review about the sport mega event impacts. The answers given by the experts pointed out that the needs of most of Rio´s inhabitants do not involve the projected enormous buildings and spaces which have scarce relevance to their daily lives ?activities. The analysis through statistical techniques showed that the impacts intensity were much higher on the environment albeit in all four dimensions, the negative impacts outnumber the positive ones.

In sum, this paper aims to fill such a gap between typical Olympic planning and designing a complete urban planning process, from bidding till post-Games period. The Olympic city faced deficiencies in terms of sites selection, land use, urban landscape planning and transportation network integration. The concerns in an Olympic-led urban planning process involve modifying current urban regulations, shortage of monitoring and control over projects implementation, prioritizing private sector interests, secrecy, among other. Event-related urban planning needs: i) to be developed appropriately from the bidding phase; ii) to integrate into the long-term city development plans with an evaluation of its feasibility in the post-event utilization; and iii) to be implemented through specific action plans. Planning should be provided with all stakeholders' participation and aiming at a less top-down approach in the decision-making processes with careful implementation monitoring to prevent additional investment costs. Approaches presented in this study, review sport mega-events hosting within a framework of an urban planning process geared towards Olympic Games.