Securing And Sustaining The Olympic City
by Gary Armstrong /
2011 / English / PDF
4.3 MB Download
Often seen as the host nation's largest ever logistical
undertaking, accommodating the Olympics and its attendant security
infrastructure brings seismic changes to both the physical and
social geography of its destination. Since 1976, the defence of the
spectacle has become the central feature of its planning, one that
has assumed even greater prominence following the bombing of the
1996 Atlanta Games and, most importantly, 9/11. Indeed, the
quintupled cost of securing the first post-9/11 summer Games in
Athens demonstrates the considerable scale and complexity currently
implicated in these operations. Such costs are not only fiscal. The
Games stimulate a tidal wave of redevelopment ushering in new
gentrified urban settings and an associated investment that may or
may not soak through to the incumbent community. Given the unusual
step of developing London's Olympic Park in the heart of an
existing urban milieu and the stated commitments to 'community
development' and 'legacy', these constitute particularly acute
issues for the 2012 Games. In addition to sealing the Olympic Park
from perceived threats, 2012 security operations have also
harnessed the administrative criminological staples of community
safety and crime reduction to generate an ordered space in the
surrounding areas. Of central importance here are the issues of
citizenship, engagement and access in urban spaces redeveloped upon
the themes of security and commerce. Through analyzing the social
and community impact of the 2012 Games and its security operation
on East London, this book concludes by considering the key debates
as to whether utopian visions of legacy can be sustained given the
demands of providing a global securitised event of the magnitude of
the modern Olympics
Often seen as the host nation's largest ever logistical
undertaking, accommodating the Olympics and its attendant security
infrastructure brings seismic changes to both the physical and
social geography of its destination. Since 1976, the defence of the
spectacle has become the central feature of its planning, one that
has assumed even greater prominence following the bombing of the
1996 Atlanta Games and, most importantly, 9/11. Indeed, the
quintupled cost of securing the first post-9/11 summer Games in
Athens demonstrates the considerable scale and complexity currently
implicated in these operations. Such costs are not only fiscal. The
Games stimulate a tidal wave of redevelopment ushering in new
gentrified urban settings and an associated investment that may or
may not soak through to the incumbent community. Given the unusual
step of developing London's Olympic Park in the heart of an
existing urban milieu and the stated commitments to 'community
development' and 'legacy', these constitute particularly acute
issues for the 2012 Games. In addition to sealing the Olympic Park
from perceived threats, 2012 security operations have also
harnessed the administrative criminological staples of community
safety and crime reduction to generate an ordered space in the
surrounding areas. Of central importance here are the issues of
citizenship, engagement and access in urban spaces redeveloped upon
the themes of security and commerce. Through analyzing the social
and community impact of the 2012 Games and its security operation
on East London, this book concludes by considering the key debates
as to whether utopian visions of legacy can be sustained given the
demands of providing a global securitised event of the magnitude of
the modern Olympics