The "Mega Event" and the urban development: Beijing 2008

Since the Eighties, Mega Events became more and more important for the renewal and enhancement of urban image in a global scenery. Mega Events, that is events well defined in time that need huge investments in a short timeframe, can be decisive to urban development and so can be a tool to improve quality and international fame of a town, able to involve the skills of a whole nation. Olympic Games, Expo, Forum and other events are tools of transformation/evolution of towns, changing them in few years thanks to infrastructures and facilities that, once finished, can help modifying the city itself and its surroundings. The following text, in its first part, shows the key elements on which Mega Events operate helping rebuilding the "town image". In its second part it analyzes the case study of (GRAPHICS) Beijing, that hosted Olympic Games in 2008. This case study is interesting because, unlike western towns, Olympic Games 2008 were for Popular Republic of China an important chance to state their full right to participate the Olympic events, in a historical and economic time very favorable and unprecedented. I addiction China, seizing the chance to modify Beijing for the Olympic Games and Shanghai for the Expo 2010, designed renewal plans at local, regional and national level - at all scales - aiming to help synergies and development at least for the first 20 years of the second Millennium. The Chinese capital used the media power of architecture and, just like many others towns in the world, created urban objects that became real symbols, filling the cites with formally relevant architectural objects and futuristic architectures designed by the most famous architects. Four years from the end of the Games the Olympic legacy may seem too much for a megalopolis that, despite pretending to be strong and powerful, is really structurally fragile. In conclusion, the experience of Beijing 2008 that, as stated by President of CIO Rogge, allowed China to know more about the World and the World to know more about China, is important and unique in the study of Great Events and of their consequence on a very complex and fragile town, a case study that all the City Governments aiming to host Great Event should always keep in mind.