Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics and used it as an opportunity to revitalize the city. The Olympics spurred investments in transportation infrastructure, housing, offices, and sports facilities. This led to economic growth, reduced unemployment, increased tourism, and an improved quality of life. The Olympics transformed Barcelona from an industrial city into a global hub for services and knowledge industries. It established a model of using a major event to drive urban planning projects and commercial development for both short and long-term benefits.

1. Barcelona &
Olympic Games 1992

2. 1st stage Second stage
(cir. 19 BC to 4th century) (5th to 19th century) History of
urban
planning
from origin
till 1992
Olympic
Games
Third stage Fourth stage
(1860s - 1930s) (from 1930s to 1970s)

3. History of urban planning
from origin till the Olympics of
1992
• 1979 End of Dictatorship
• 1980s: Oriol Bohigas(architect and urban
planner):
«Recover the centre and monumentalize
the periphery»
• Pasqual Maragall (Barcelona Major from
1982 to 1996): run olympic bid
• 1986:
– EEC (European Economic Community,
also called CEE)
– Barcelona wins Olympic Bid

4. Urban Renewal: the Barcelona Model
•Strong political and local leadership with a flexible rather than rigid approach to
planning.
•International events are used to: attract private investment and workforce
• Investment in transport infrastructure to improve accessibility. This increases
opportunities for economic and social activity.
•High quality Buildings and infrastructure and the encouragement of innovative
architecture and thinking. :
• short-term use
• long term as a means of regenerating a decaying area of the city.
•Buildings of heritage value are conserved for public use. Building renovations and
compulsory purchase of buildings in very poor condition to renovate them using
public funds and tax incentives and grants to refurbish properties.
•Mixed new land uses into an area (service industries, office and retail, private and
public housing).
•City as the sum of its neighborhoods emphasizes the building of communities (social
mixing encouragement): intervention linked to demands of local community. The
radical transformation of the perimeters of the worst affected areas. Education, job
training, health, crime and leisure initiatives.

5. Planning principles
Barcelona ‘92: Games of the
city and in the city.
Four areas chosen inside the
municipality of Barcelona to
locate the four Olympic areas:
•- Montjuic,
•- Diagonal
•- Vall d'Hebron
•- Poble Nou, Olympic Village
From “acupuncture-urban -
planning” (focused on little
planning” (focused
areas) to structural and
areas)
infrastructural (rondes - ring
road, airport) changes of
airport)
whole areas of the town.

6. Olympic Ring

7. Olympic Village & Olympic Port

8. Olympic Swimming Pools
Velodrome

9. Olympic Games Economic Impact
Organizational costs: Infrastructures and facilities:
•$1 million •$8 million
• Short-term investments •Long-term investments
•Organizational Committee •Both public and private sector
•Aim: MINIMIZE •Aim: MAXIMIZE
Huge construction works:
1. Road and transport infrastructure
2. Housing, offices and business
centers (private investments)
3. Telecommunications and services
4. Hotels (private investments)
5. Sports facilities
6. Environmental infrastructure
Return of investments of Organizing Committee: 75%
KEY FACTOR OF SUCCESS: capability to attract both PUBLIC (63,2%) and
PRIVATE FUNDERS (36,8%)

10. Olympic Games Economic impact
• REGIONAL DECENTRALISATION:
impact on the Region: only 38.5%
of total investment was in
Barcelona city.
• BALANCE SHEET: positive income
(gain) in both post-Olympic years
and preparatory phase (through
taxation of Olympic activities)
• UNEMPLOYEMENT: between 1986
and 1992, Barcelona’s
unemployment rate fell from
18.4% to 9.6%, the Spanish one
from 20.9% to 15.5%.
Construction works =temporary
employment, then permanent
jobs.
• HOSTING CAPACITY: between
1986 and 2000 number of foreign
visitors doubled (3.5 million visitors
per year) and number of hotels,
too.

11. Olympic Games Economic Impact
• OLYMPIC LEGACY: includes urban transformation, changed economic
structure, increased private and public capital, increased service sector
activity, heightened international role, attractiveness (tourists + foreign
companies establishing their business), centrality, productivity and
competitiveness.
• OLYMPIC GAMES ARE THE DRIVER OF BARCELONA’S SOCIAL AND
ECONOMIC BOOM IN THE 90’S and the reason why the City overcome
the international economic crisis of 1993! AND…
…still one decade later the expansive trend continues: Barcelona has
maintained the growth in all indicators.
• BARCELONA’92 AS A MODEL of capacity to ride the Olympic wave.
• RESULT: Improved quality of life and STRATEGIC POSITIONING, making
Barcelona one of the most visited cities in Europe after London, Paris and
Rome.

12. BARCELONA OLYMPICS IMPACT MODEL
Olympic Games 1964-2008 ($)

13. Conclusions: “No one can survive merely by CONSERVATION. If there is no
new construction, the city cannot stand {…}. Each city must find
its own formula for combining existing symbols with new ones.
Without the latter, antiquity becomes mere repetition.”
Pasqual Maragall,
Mayor of Barcellona from 1982 to 1997
• Shift: from typical industrial city to flexible (service+knowledge) city.
• Tourist promotion: positioning itself as an international cultural and business meeting
point
• Developmental impact: Olympics used as planning tool to push forward projects
that were already in progress (Olympic village case).
• 3 main long-lasting impacts to the urban fabric instead of “white elephant”:
– Vila Olimpica and the Sea Front (industrial area – Olympic village – Inhabited
area)
– restoring historical buildings in Gothic Quarters and on Montjuic Mountain
– ring roads around the metropolitan area
• Commercial aspect: Barcelona’s model set up an example of successfully
combining a sporting event with commercial purposes. Barcelona’s games
revenues were mainly generated by entities, which rose to 75.2% of the total, from
sponsorship and television rights.

14. Current issues and developments:
22@Barcelona Hyper Community Diagonal Mar
Universal Forum of Culture 2004

15. Thanks for your attention!
Case study by:
Alessandra Speri
Cristina Caroti
Xu Wu
Daria Averyanova