Olympics and Urban Legacy in Sydney: Urban Transformations and Real Estate a Decade after the Games

Abstract

The Olympic Games (OG) are an opportunity for cities to display themselves on the world stage. Cities from developed and developing countries present themselves to hold the Games, always with a double intention: to promote itself in the global arena and use this opportunity to stimulate urban changes. However, there are very few studies that analyze the urban legacy of the OG for the host cities, probably because it takes years for an urban legacy to become established, and when the time is right to analyze this legacy other OG are on the agenda. The aim of this paper is to analyze the urban legacy left by the 2000 OG in Sydney. Sydney has been chosen for this analysis because, as there have been no other major development projects for the Homebush Bay region since the 2000 OG, the impact of the Games can be measured, specifically regarding physical transformations, discussing what their real urban legacy is.