Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires has been chosen as a city to have the Youth Olympic Games in 2018. In order to be host of this event the city will have to make some infrastructure work and investment in different items. This sport event that raises global interest is the perfect opportunity to make these investments not only useful for the Olympic Games but also for the local community. This long-term approach gives a new meaning to the Youth Olympic Games by impacting the city in a much more sustainable way.
Although this proposal is not set in the official website of the project, where the Social Responsibility aspects mentioned are orientated to education and cultural aspects, the project seeks to leave a legacy to the city regarding infrastructure. So in addition to promoting the Olympic values, cultural exchange, sports and healthy habits to young people, the promise is that 2.000 families will have access to housing after the Olympic Games are over. In this way the 112 million dollar investment will be an investment oriented to the wellbeing of the community in the area of Villa Soldati and Comuna 8, as well as in the sport event.
Social housing is a relevant issue for the project because of the problems that the city has in this aspect, especially in the area where the Olympic Villa will be built. Over 6.000 families live illegally in the nearby area and this has generated violent social conflicts in the past. Several social manifestations have occurred in 2010, when some of these families camped illegally in a public park of the area as a way of demanding the government to solve the housing problem.
The idea of turning the Olympic Village into social housing isn´t new, the sustainable project of London 2012 also included this item and it has been an inspiration for the project. But we have to bear in mind that this experience is very useful to learn about not only regarding the successes but also about the challenges.
The structure of the Olympic Village in London, in the area of Stratford was designed completely with environmentally sustainable materials. Also, it needed some adaptation from being a Village to being households. They were turned “from one-bed flats to 5-bedroom townhouses, have had temporary bedroom partitions removed and new kitchens fitted (the athletes all dined together in a communal canteen)”.
Apart from the architecture of the houses, the neighborhood selected is convenient because it´s near the city, with good transport connections, and improved public spaces like a park, shops and a school just to mention a few. Thinking not only about the apartments but of the whole dynamic of the neighborhood and if it will be functional for the daily life of the people is necessary for this urban development to be successful.
Thinking about London´s challenges, social housing meant to be one of the largest legacies of these games but one year later it isn´t clear yet if the expectations will be met or if it will be a failed goal. The process of inhabiting these houses hasn´t concluded yet and as the neighborhood has improved substantially the prices of these apartments are rising, and the initial target people aren´t being able to pay for them.
This experience might mean that it wasn´t rigorously planned into who would be the people to live in these houses. Maybe if it had been decided previously and the renting rates or in the payment plan (if they will be owners of the houses) would have been fixed, the outcome would be different.
Different specialists in social housing recommend participatory processes from the beginning of the project. Understanding the communities´ lifestyle and needs will also be helpful to design the houses and the common areas, and should be a key input for the architecture project. A social housing project should have as a final goal the improvement of the quality of life of the people, regardless from any other positive outcome that may result for the city. Another argument for this recommendation is that when the futures residents are involved in this process, greater is the success because the sense of belonging is higher and they can embrace these houses as theirs. Some authors even consider the people should be part of the construction of their own houses. So this could be an option from the beginning, when building the Olympic Village or in the second stage when the adaptations are made after the Olympic Games finish.
It´s important that the organizers Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires in 2018 take the challenges that we can learn from London 2012 in consideration and not only the positive outcomes. The housing prices of Villa Soldati might increase because of the investment being made and it´s their duty to make sure that the social goal will be met and the “legacy” of this sport event won’t turn into a good real estate investment.
Sources:
“Villa Soldati: contexto social en zona marginada.” – Agencia CNA. http://www.agenciacna.com/2/nota_1.php?noticia_id=36679
“Nuevas tomas tensaron la situación social.” – Diario Popular.
http://www.diariopopular.com.ar/notas/56626-nuevas-tomas-tensaronla-situacion-social
“2012 London Olympics to regenérate one of the most poor areas of the Capital” – Citymayors
http://www.citymayors.com/sport/2012-olympics-london.html
“Villa Olímpica en Soldati, una inversión de US 112 millones” – Diario Z
http://www.diarioz.com.ar/#/nota/villa-olimpica-en-soldati-una-inversion-de-us-112-millones-28668/
“One year after Olympics, poor in London yet to feel benefit of the games.” Interaksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/one-year-after-olympics-poor-in-london-yet-to-feel-benefit-of-games
Official website Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires
http://www.jojba2018.org/
“London 2012: Affordable housing sidelined in Olympic regeneration.” The Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2012/jul/27/affordable-housing-sidelined-olympic-regeneration
“Residents start making homes in Olympic village.” The Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/26/olympic-village-residents-homes-stratford
“Se extiende la toma de tierras en la capital y el conurbano”. La Nación.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1333484-se-extiende-la-toma-de-tierras-en-la-capital-y-el-conurbano
“Vivienda Social en Latinoamérica: una metodología para utilizar procesos de auto-organización.” Nikos A. Salingaros, David Brain, Andrés M. Duany, Michael W. Mehaffy y Ernesto Philibert-Petit (Grupo de investigadores de la Estructura Ambiental – ESGR).
http://www.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/socialhousing-spanish.pdf
World Bank website for Urban poverty and Slum upgrading.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTURBANDEVELOPMENT/EXTURBANPOVERTY/0,,contentMDK:20227683~menuPK:7173807~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:341325,00.html
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13 Dec 2013
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