The general wisdom is that the Olympics create billions in revenue, an incalculable amount of publicity, and an excuse to get massive urban renewal projects off the ground. Cities invest millions – and that’s just to be considered by the Olympic Council. And yet, more often than not, the Olympics engender debt, questionable planning decisions (like razing poor neighborhoods to the ground), and massive, expensive structures that end up vacant and unused when the Games end.
Jon Pack and Gary Hustwit have decided to undertake a photography project to capture post-Olympic cities – both the successes and the failures. From the auditorium turned Korean Mega-Church in L.A. to the weeded, empty venues in Athens, The Olympic City, currently fundraising on Kickstarter, will chronicle each city’s post-Olympic “rebirth or decay.”
For us, the project raises some interesting questions: What choices can cities make to make urban rebirth an inevitable Olympic consequence? Or, at the very least, how can cities avoid the fate of post-Olympic decay?
Check out the video for Pack and Hustwit’s Kickstarter Campain, open until June 29th, after the break…
Story Via Fast Company.
