On the opportunity of an Olympic legacy for Rio

Abstract

The decision of investing almost the whole Olympic Games 2016 infrastructure in Barra da Tijuca can be controversial since it has a lot to relate to real estate speculation. However, that decision allows reimagining it as a fortunate and maybe even unexpected contribution to a potential change of the paradigm of Rio de Janeiro's municipal planning and of its metropolitan area.

On the following article, we glimpse the opportunity to favor the creation of alternative centralities in peripheral and less valued areas of the city. We start from the confirmation that the geographical discrepancy of investments and the difficulty of recognition by the public administration of the strategic economic role areas – which still will be urbanized - can play for the city, had turned into the main fuel to urban expansion not planned or carried out by real estate market, being it formal or informal.

By those means, we understand that the environmental problems and the failure of health and transport infrastructure commonly pointed out as the primary effects of urban spread are, in fact, direct consequences of this vicious cycle that recent investments related to the 2016 Olympic Games can help to break.

Keywords: Rio de Janeiro; Olympic Games; urban infrastructure.