Enriching the Legacy of Athens' 2004 Olympic Village: The Role of Information Technology Infrastructure by Sotiris A. Biziouras Diploma in Planning and Regional Development Engineering University of Thessaly, Volos - Greece, 1997 Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in City Planning at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2000 © 2000 Sotiris A. Biziouras All Rights Reserved The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Author epartment of Urban Studies and Planning May 12, 2000 Certified by J. Ma chuster, Professor of Urban Cultural Policy f (Department of Urban Studies and Planning Thesis Supervisor Accepted by Paul Smoke, Associate Professor MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE Chair, MCP Committee OF TECHNOLOGY Department of Urban Studies and Planning AUG 0 2 2000 ROTCI4 LIBRARIES 2 Enriching the Legacy of Athens' 2004 Olympic Village: The Role of Information Technology Infrastructure by Sotiris A. Biziouras Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on May 12, 2000 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in City Planning Abstract The year is 2004. Athens, the capital of Greece is hosting the Olympic Games for the first time in 108 years. Athens, to accommodate the needs of the XXVIII Olympiad, has altered the form of the city through major infrastructure projects. The Olympic Village, as one of these projects, is a place with significant information infrastructure and transformation capabilities that will contribute to the future development of Athens. In this thesis, I examine the post-Olympic development of Athens' Olympic Village. Although the Greek government has decided that the Village will be used for housing, I believe that other forms of development should be explored. Under the hypothesis that the presence of information technology infrastructure provides a unique opportunity for post-Olympic development, this thesis proposes an alternative solution for the Village's future development. Through research on the experience of previous Olympic Villages, presentation of the current situation of the Athens Olympic Village, and evaluation of the role of information technology infrastructure on urban structures, I propose an alternative post-Olympic development for the Village; a proposal that not only values the Village's role in the surrounding community but also the potential of the Village to become a major technology center which will aid the future development of Athens. Thesis Advisor: J. Mark Schuster Professor of Urban Cultural Policy Department of Urban Studies and Planning Co-Advisor/Reader: Michael J. Shiffer Lecturer and Principal Research Scientist Department of Urban Studies and Planning Reader: Eran Ben-Joseph Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning Department of Urban Studies and Planning 4 Acknowledgements "Culture is the habit of being satisfied with the best and knowing why" Henry Van Dyke I have had the good fortune of experiencing different cultures that have added enormous value to my search for excellence. This search has helped me build a philosophy in which the core values are the human actions and virtues. I chose to research the Olympic Villages in this thesis because it is not only a subject that supports my academic interests, but because it also offered me the opportunity to study, research and reveal fundamental spiritual values and virtues that have existed in human culture since the dawn of civilization. I am forever grateful to all the people, inside and outside of academia, who have been a continuous inspiration in my pursuit and establishment of an advanced culture. I am particularly grateful to my thesis advisor, J. Mark Schuster and my academic advisor Michael J. Shiffer for their support and guidance throughout this project. Mark, although he agreed to advise this thesis relatively late in the process, contributed much to its methodology and reasoning as well as to its final success. Michael, who advised and supported my decisions and insights throughout this portion of my academic career, not only helped me to organize and complete this thesis but also ensured its success from the beginning. It has been both a pleasure and honor to work with them. I am also thankful to Professors Eran Ben-Joseph, Dennis Frenchman and Klaus R. Kunzmann, with whom I had the honor to work closely in exciting projects during my studies, and for reading, advising and supporting this thesis. Outside of the MIT community, I would like to thank the professors, colleagues and friends in Greece who helped me complete this thesis. I am more than thankful to Professor Dimitris Economou, Mr. Yannis Pyrgiotis - member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Ms. Georgia Giannakourou - lawyer and consultant to the Ministry of Planning, Ms. Evdoxia Kaila - sociologist, Worker's Housing Organization and Mr. Anestis Papadakis - planner, Environmental Studies Group, for offering valuable information regarding the organization, planning and development of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Furthermore, I would like to thank my dear friends, Adrienn Jankovics, with whom I have pursued this masters degree from core to thesis, and Turi McKinley, for their constant support, valuable advice, precious friendship and encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Maria and Agis Biziouras, for their unfailing support of all my pursuits. Without their continuous support and interest in me achieving an advanced education this project as well as many other things would not have been possible. They have always been there for insight, inspiration, motivation, suggestion and critique. 6 Table of Contents A bstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 A cknow ledgem ents ...................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 9 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................. I1 The Concept ........................................................................................................... I1 A H ypothesis ....................................................................................................... 13 O utline of D iscussion ......................................................................................... 14 II. Previous Experience................................................................................................ 15 H istoric Evolution of O lym pic V illages............................................................ 15 The Most Recent Experiences: Barcelona '92 and Atlanta '96 ......................... 32 The Legacy of the O lym pic V illages ................................................................ 36 III. A thens' 2004 O lym pic V illage .............................................................................. 41 Location and M aster Plan................................................................................... 41 Post-O lym pic U se of the V illage ...................................................................... 50 D iscussion ............................................................................................................. 51 IV . Enriching the Legacy of the V illage .................................................................... 55 The Role of Inform ation Technology Infrastructure......................................... 55 A lternative Scenario for the V illage................................................................... 56 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 61 Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 63 List of Figures Figure 11.1: Olympia Plan after the first excavations, W.Dorpfeld, 1881. (OCOG Athens 2 0 0 4 , 19 9 9 ) ....................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 11.2: Los Angeles 1932 - The first Olympic Village erected on the Baldwin Hill. (W imm er, 1976)................................................................................................................ 19 Figure 11.3: Berlin 1936 - General view of the Olympic Village. (OCOG Athens 2004, 19 9 9 ).................................................................................................................................. 2 0 Figure II.4: Helsinki 1952 - For the first time the Olympic Village consists of multi-story buildings. (W imm er, 1976)........................................................................................... 22 Figure 11.5: Melbourne 1956 - General view of the Olympic Village. (Wimmer, 1976) . 23 Figure 11.6: Rome 1960 - The first "Urban Village". (OCOG Athens 2004, 1999) ........ 24 Figure 11.7: Tokyo 1964 - General view of the Yoyogi Village. (OCOG Athens 2004, 19 9 9 ) ................................................................................................................................. 2 5 Figure 11.8: Mexico City 1968 - The "Miguel Hidalgo" Village. (OCOG Athens