- Munich: Making Special Events promote Urban Development -- On Risks an Opportunities of Big Events for the Infrastructure , the Image and the Settlement Patterns of a City    376 kb by    Albers, Gerd & Isocarp members Munich, Working group | Kuehner.ReissSchmidt@t-online.de    Short Outline The city of Munich has experienced, over the last decades, some special events - Olympic Games and garden exhibitions, with a forthcoming Soccer World Championship - which required extraordinary efforts. Integrated into long-term development strategies, these events have lasting effects mainly by improving the infrastructure and by creating new locational advantages and urban qualities. The results and conditions of this success story are discussed in the case study. Abstract Munich, state capital of Bavaria (Federal Republic of Germany), has experienced, over the last decades, events which required extraordinary efforts. Integrated in long term development strategies, these projects had (or will have) lasting effects by improving the infrastructure and creating new locations and urban qualities. The Olympic Games of 1972: The IOC decision was made six years earlier, and the preparation of a well-founded application presenting an integrated concept for the games had been a matter of years. The site was a former airfield abandoned in the 1930s and designated since as open space. One key problem was accessibility by public transport, the improvement of which had been on the agenda for a long time. Existing plans for a subway system had been held up by a dispute between the City and the Federal Railroad about the location of a cross-city tunnel. Now, under the immediate pressure of the forthcoming games, a decision was made. Considerable Federal and State subsidies contributed to preparing the Olympic site and the infrastructure on time. Thus, the ''event'' has remarkably accelerated the creation of an efficient urban rail network. Another side effect was the construction of the Olympic village and of the accommodation for reporters, resulting two modern residential estates including student quarters. International Garden Exhibition 1983: For this event, a new park, the Westpark, was created on a site occupied mainly by gravel pits surrounded by urban development. It became very popular and improved the quality of life in this part of the city. Federal Garden Exhibition 2005: It will be held on the site of the former airport east of the city which was restructured into a mixed use city quarter (''Messestadt Riem''): It consists of the new Munich trade fair which had to be relocated from its narrow inner city site, a modern business quarter and a big housing area surrounded by a new park connected to the surrounding landscape. In this case, the exhibition will make use of the new development and is likely to enhance its image Soccer World Championship 2006: After heated discussions it was decided not to adapt the Olympic stadium to FIFA requirements because this would have destroyed the world renowned qualities of the meanwhile listed building and park. Nearby locations had proved impossible because of noise-pollution on adjacent residential areas. Instead a new soccer arena at the northern periphery of the city will be built - financed from private funds. But high infrastructure costs will be borne by federal government and the city. Hopefully, the ''side effects'' of this measure will help to improve the quality and image of the area, which has detoriorated through uncoordinated development. Still, this seemingly convincing solution has its severe problems, since it will take soccer out of the Olympic Stadium which so far had been a major source of income needed for its maintenance. Anyway, the decision of the FIFA organisation committee to locate the main media centre of the event in Munich will cause a big leap forward for the enlargement of Munichs new trade fair and the surrounding housing areas of the''Messestadt Riem''. Keywords Special events, lasting effects, (Infra)structure Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2002: The Pulsar Effect   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper