Mega-events, legacies and impacts: notes on 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

Abstract

This paper presents a reflection on the implementation of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and its social and spatial repercussions. It incorporates results of research that comprises (i) survey of bibliography on mega-events; (ii) survey of information on government Internet sites and major and alternative media; (iii) mapping of social conflicts related to the Olympics’ main projects; (iv) interviews with social actors and politicians; and (v) observations of public meetings organized by the government or communities. After a brief reading of the critical analyses on mega-events and its expression in Brazil, a background summary of the implementation process of sports mega-events in Rio de Janeiro and a discussion about mega-events’ legacies and/or impacts are presented. The paper specially addresses the changes in the map of inequalities in Rio and reflects on the exhaustion of the political and economic conditions that fed the mega-events cycle in Brazil.

Keywords

• legacy
• urban impacts
• sporting mega-events
• 2016 olympics
• rio de janeiro
• brazil