Olympics

2010 will bring with it a series of huge international events -- the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the World Cup in South Africa and the World Expo in Shanghai. Though seen as major opportunities for their hosts, these events can also be dangerous.

September 5, 2009 - Next American City

A new report from the International Olympic Committee has evaluated the four host candidates for the 2016 Summer Olympics and found many places for improvement ahead of its October 2 decision.

September 3, 2009 - The Chicago Tribune

As part of its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Chicago has broad plans for a proposed Olympic Village. Preservationists are protesting, as those plans involve the demolition historic architecture by Walter Gropius. A decision has been delayed.

September 1, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

After an unstoppable run of megaprojects being built with an eye on the Olympics, architects are now designing smaller, human-scale projects in between the cracks.

August 18, 2009 - Asia Times

Iconic Olympic venues may not be the best take-away from next Winter's games in Vancouver. The real benefit for the city may be its new rapid transit line, according to this article.

August 13, 2009 - USA Today

Organizers claim city money won't be needed as Chicago edges closer to securing the 2016 Summer Olympics, but locals are wary about the costs that could fall on them. The recession is exacerbating concerns.

July 28, 2009 - The New York Times

Vancouver's development for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be a long-term benefit for the city, according to Olympics advisers. Some say the positive impact is already being seen.

July 23, 2009 - The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver is hoping to build the greenest Olympic Village yet as it prepares to host the 2010 Winter games. But there are some challenges facing the ambitious plans.

July 17, 2009 - Grist

The Olympics can be awesome for cities. Or they can be devastating. Rarely they're both, and most often they are an economic drain caused by over-investment in facilities with limited long-term usability. So when London's plans for a 2012 Summer Olympics stadium that would reduce from 80,000 seats during the games to a more realistically usable 25,000 seats after, Olympics experts, city officials and taxpayers rejoiced. But recent news has turned that rejoice to disgust.

June 30, 2009 - Nate Berg

Officials in London are changing their minds about the main stadium being built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was intended to be a semi-temporary structure. Now they want it to be permanent.

June 30, 2009 - The Architects' Journal

Sochi, Russia, is set to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. But work on the site has hardly begun, according to this report from The Moscow Times.

May 19, 2009 - The Moscow Times

With goals of LEED-certification and plans for reuse after the games, Vancouver's Olympic Village is being called a model for event-based sustainability.

May 8, 2009 - Architectural Record

Despite efforts to clean up Beijing during last year's Olympic Games, pollutant reductions were very minor, according to a new report.

May 1, 2009 - ScienceNOW Daily News

Whether you've realized it yet or not, soccer is a big deal in this gloabalizing world. And every four years it's a huge deal for one country: the host of the FIFA World Cup. All eyes are on the host country for the 32-team tournament, which is the most-watched sporting event in the world. And though showtime is just one month long, the host spends years vying, preparing and investing for the tournament. It has major potential to spur broad countrywide improvements and economic development. So when the U.S. made news recently by offering forth 70 stadia as possible host sites for either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup (along with a reputation booster from President Barack Obama), I had to filter out my national pride. Sure, the U.S. would make a good and clearly able host for the event, but it seems that the potential of the World Cup could be better directed towards a country that really needs large-scale civic improvement and investment.

April 16, 2009 - Nate Berg

A slightly watered-down version of the traffic reduction methods the Chinese city of Beijing instituted in Summer 2008 to reduce congestion and pollution during the Olympics has been extended for another year.

April 8, 2009 - Associated Press

The Chicago Tribune formed its own panel of international judges -- made up of tourists -- to tour and evaluate the city's proposed venues for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

April 6, 2009 - Chicago Tribune

In anticipation of the 2010 Winter Olympics, transportation planners in Vancouver are plotting permanent expansions to the city's public transit system. Demand will be high during the games, but many wonder what will happen after.

March 13, 2009 - The Tyee

The Olympic Forest Park in Beijing is standing out as one of the rare Olympics-related projects to remain in use after the 2008 event. Hu Jie, the park's designer, talks about its planning and the role of public space in Beijing.

March 10, 2009 - Bangkok Post

The 2008 Summer Olympics brought a boom of construction to host city Beijing. But now, six months later, much of the office space built in the lead up to the games sits empty -- and likely will for years.

February 24, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

The 2012 Olympics in London -- a one month event three years away -- has already created nearly 30,000 construction jobs.

January 20, 2009 - Building