Olympics' impacts in Rio de Janeiro's urban sustainability

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the relationship between sustainable urban transformation and hosting a sport mega-event. Therefore, indicators were extracted from the literature review of impacts in four dimensions (physical, economic, environmental and social). Corresponding factors were compared with sustainability sub-themes in order to evaluate whether hosting the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was in line with sustainability goals for the city. Results show that there is a slight alignment between them in terms of event-related transport expansion in the city and green spaces improvement. But, there is a huge gap between the physical, environmental, economic and social-cultural goals of hosting the Games and urban sustainability. Likewise, Rio de Janeiro has not met sustainable objectives in terms of diminishing the mega event´s impacts on: urban environment like the offsetting carbon emissions, economic downward trend, social improvement such as reduction of urban poverty, physical development. In terms of economic growth, it seems that the Olympics not only did not contribute to the city's economic growth, but the city faced a financial crisis which was partly due to the economic downturn in Brazil and partly due to the massive costs of hosting the Games.