Olympic 2012 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Olympic 2012 - Essay Example The purpose of the study is to determine whether or not a net benefit, either from economic gain or legacy, or both, is likely in the case of the London Olympics. The concept of regeneration is often associated with the idea of ‘renaissance’ which means ‘being reborn’. This means, however, that the location which is the target of ‘regeneration’ has at some point in the past ‘degenerated’ or degraded to a point where it requires more than simple restoration or repair (Binns, 2005). Officially, the term ‘regeneration’ is described as ‘the positive transformation of a place – whether residential, commercial, or open space – that has previously displayed symptoms of physical, social and/or economic decline’ (Dept. of Culture, Media and Sports, 2004; Smith, 2004 p.165 ). What one might pick up from the definition is that the cause of degeneration may be traced in particular to industrial decline. Therefore, it used to be that mostly developed countries are the ones that undertook regeneration, while those countries still in the process of development do not . Formerly, ‘regeneration’ referred almost exclusively to developed Western countries; however, more recently ‘regeneration’ has already been used to refer to the modern cities in the developing countries, such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, in the context of their economic, environmental and social development programmes (Smith, 2004, p. 166). The direct and detailed meaning of ‘regeneration’ is not easy to put into words, since it is a concept made of several aspects brought together in a single process that displays ‘economic, environmental, social, cultural, symbolic, and political dimensions’ (Bianchini, 1993, p. 1). The different aspects of regeneration and activities undertaken under each are given in Smith (2009), p. 167 as