- The Spatial Effects of the Construction of the Facilities for the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968.    912 kb by    Fernando, Greene | fgreene@correo.unam.mx    Short Outline This work shows how the infrastructures built for the Olympic Games at Mexico City in 1968, influenced the spatial development of it and it´s land uses and economy. Abstract In the summer of 1968 the Olympic Games were held in Mexico City. In order to gain the rights to be sponsors of these games, Mexico agreed to build a series of premises which the Olympic Committee demanded for the performance of the different events that are common part of the games. The Olympic Stadium of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) which was inaugurated in 1952, with an original capacity for 65,000 spectators, had to be refurbished in order to comply with the standards established by the different international associations related to the different disciplines which take place in a stadium like this one, and in order to increase its capacity. New buildings like the Olympic Pool, the Basket Ball Stadium, the Sport’s Palace, the Stadium for cycling events and the Fencing Stadium were built in order to fulfill the demands of the Olympic Committee. Also the Olympic Village was developed to give shelter to all the athletes of the different nationalities which participated in these games. The demand for land needed to accommodate all these premises was huge, therefore, many planning studies took place in order to define the location of each of these new installations, considering the already existence of the Olympic Stadium at the University of Mexico. The Mexican Olympic Committee, four years previous to the games started working in order to be able to finish all the facilities needed by the time of the inauguration day. For this purpose, a huge team of people from different disciplines was put together and the master plan for these activities was prepared. Spatially speaking, a very important decision was made, and it was, that the different new facilities were placed all around the city in order to benefit different sectors. For this reason, new important infrastructure for transportation had to be planned and built at the same time as those whose purpose was for the games. One of the most important avenues, The Periférico Sur (The Friendship Route), was developed, nowadays, the main subway ring of the city. Also many other streets and avenues had to be built or rebuilt in order to give access to the different facilities connected to the games. After 34 years from this important event, which was a “big pulsation” for Mexico City, the development of a research which deals with the effects caused by this Olympiad is necessary. The main objective of this work is the definition of how these infrastructures influenced the spatial development of the city and also the identification of the benefits or disadvantages they produced. Specifically a territorial analysis comparing three point in times is presented, 1964 (starting of planning and construction), 1968 (year the Olympic Games were held) and, 2002. This analysis shows the transformation induced by these facilities in the urban fabric and also identify how they affected the surroundings of each one, and which was the impact of all of them together considering the whole metropolitan area. Also, we present how all the premises transformed their use after the games, that is to say, if the original use for each specific installation is kept or which were the different uses that it has had over the period of our analysis. Finally, a gross study of cost/benefit of this works is presented in order to give an idea of the economic implications related to this project and how after 34 years we can evaluate the implications of such enterprise. Keywords Olimpiades, impacts, landuse 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