Urban planning was once an Olympic event, although the first gold medal – awarded to Germany’s Alfred Hensel for the Nuremberg stadium – turned out to be an unfortunate choice.
Imagine cities competed to eliminate hunger, poverty, unemployment, crime and greenhouse emissions, and to offer housing and transport for all. Don’t scoff – urban planning was once an Olympic event.
A protester holds up a sticker reading ‘boycott’ during anti-Olympic protests in Brazil.
Reuters
Protests against the Rio Olympics must be understood in the context of the growing global reaction to both the way these mega-events are organised and the entities promoting them.