SPACE September 2024 (No. 682)
Trocadero Plaza, overlooking the Eiffel Tower, became host to the Champion’s Park, as a celebration ground for medalists and the public. ©Clement Dorval, Ville de Paris
This summer, the Olympic Games made its return to Paris for the first time in a century. Launched with an opening ceremony on the Seine River, with fierce competitions playing out in landmark sites such as at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, in the Versailles Palace, Concorde Plaza. If hosting mega sporting events has achieved notoriety as a means of securing the political and financial backing necessary for urban redevelopment, the Paris 2024 Olympics took on the motif of urban regeneration with its relatively modest budget of approximately 9 billion EUR. The Paris City has pointedly set forth a ‘de-growth’ urban regeneration model, placing emphasis on renewing living environments for Parisians as opposed to national or urban marketing. By drastically reducing the number of newly built stadiums, a concerted effort was made for projects such as swimming in the Seine River and installing bike lanes in the city centre – all which are more are less in line with the l...
