The editions of the Olympic Games have created a major urban transformation, allowing for a new critical perspective on the new urban dimension of the Games, in particular the winter edition underwent profound transformations in spatial patterns. The study analyses the different spatial models of the Winter Olympic Games developed up to the present day. Through a special focus on the particular relationship between the Olympic Village and the urban fabric, useful tools will be provided for the evaluation of the Olympic event on the subject territory. These spatial models show the importance of the spatial impact of the Olympic Village on the city, allowing us to consider Olympic urbanism as an asset that cannot be destroyed in the post-Olympic phase. Since the first edition of the Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924, the event was organised in mountain locations with ski resorts, a sports hall and accommodation structures. We will observe how the winter edition since Oslo 1952 has complexified into a broader spatial model. Therefore, we will analyse how the creation of new structures will always entail some territorial changes and new impacts on the internal connections of the city and the territory. The research proposes an innovative analysis of Olympic urbanism in general, and of Olympic villages in particular, which consolidates the field of study that Olympic urbanism represents and offers a useful document for the future construction of new Olympic villages in the coming decades. In addition, the study aims to offer a reflection on the specific case of Turin 2006 in order to observe how the regional model has become the model favoured by future candidate cities. Through the analysis we will observe how the winter edition has been transformed into a model that is permanently embedded in the regional strategies of the host cities.

Valerio della Sala, Anna Maria Pioletti
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Università della Valle d’Aosta

 
ID Abstract: 239