A/HRC/13/20 Athens, the Olympic Village constructed for the 2004 Olympic Games resulted in 3,000 new units of subsidized housing that benefited 10,000 residents;6 (c) in London, half of the 2,800 units in the Olympic Village are to become affordable housing after the Games, while current plans for the Olympic Park site are for around 10,000 new homes, around 35 per cent to be affordable housing.7 9. The staging of mega-events usually entails the redevelopment of public transit networks and transport systems, environmental upgrading and the increased availability of cultural venues, sport facilities and public open spaces for city dwellers. All these investments, if designed with an inclusionary perspective, benefiting the majority, can have a positive impact on the right to adequate housing. 10. To offer diverse and good-quality alternatives for circulation during the mega-event and incorporating them into the mobility strategies of the cities, most host cities build new highways and city ring roads, recuperate downtown streets, enhance railroad networks, expand underground and tramway systems, and enlarge airports or build new ones. Depending on the nature of these interventions, they can ameliorate housing conditions, providing more access for residents to economic, social and cultural opportunities. 11. Examples of infrastructural improvement include (a) in Barcelona, a new airport and a city ring road were built in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games; (b) in Athens, a new tramway and a city ring road were constructed and the metro system was expanded in preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games; and (c) in Beijing, a new airport, new train and metro railways and two ring roads were built for the 2008 Olympics.8 12. Environmental concerns are also a big component of the preparation for hosting a sporting mega-event. This became more evident in the aftermath of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Pressured by environmental organizations and new parameters underlined by the International Olympic Committee, the organizing committee incorporated environmental concerns into the organization of the event. Since then, local host authorities include environmental strategies into their planning and take the opportunity to improve waste management facilities, reorganize garbage collection, clean streets and contaminated areas, build public parks and other green initiatives. They also embark in more complex campaigns, often resuming long-overdue plans for environmental upgrading, such as cleaning up polluted rivers and lakes, renovating or extending the sewage system, introducing systems to manage air pollution, upgrading systems for energy production (natural gas pipelines, dams, electric networks) and relocating polluting industries. 13. Examples of environmental upgrading include (a) in Tokyo, three sewage treatment plants were constructed in the run-up to the 1964 Olympic Games; (b) in Seoul, the polluted Hang River was cleaned and new systems to handle air pollution and collect garbage were created in preparation for the Olympics; and (c) in Beijing, 640 km of sewage pipes were renovated and two natural gas pipelines created in the run-up to the 2008 games.9 14. Hosting Olympic and football events has positive implications for the availability of sports facilities for the local population once the event concludes. A range of stadiums, training centres, sports fields and other amenities are constructed during this period to respond to the demands of the events. Social activities are also significantly enhanced by the development of new and improved cultural venues, designed to provide additional 6 7 8 9 “Fair play for housing rights. Mega-events, Olympic Games and evictions”, COHRE, 2007. p.142. Information provided by the International Olympic Committee. “Fair play for housing rights”, op. cit., p. 74. Ibid., p. 74. 5