A/HRC/13/20 4. The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona signalled this new approach. The Olympic Games were used as a resource to implement a double agenda: modernizing infrastructure and promoting a new public image of the city by building innovative international architecture.5 Both elements are present, with more or less intensity, in contemporary relations between sport mega-events and their host cities, causing a great impact on the social and economic development of the city. III. Mega-events and their impact on the right to adequate housing 5. Mega-events can be an opportunity to potentially enhance the right to adequate housing. The redevelopment processes undertaken in preparation of mega-events can promote infrastructural and environmental improvements for the host cities. This includes the enhancement of mobility, the cleansing of contaminated areas, the development of waste management and sanitation, the provision of social and cultural infrastructure, and the construction of new dwellings, or the rehabilitation of the existing ones, that may increase the availability of housing stock in host cities. 6. The impact of mega-events on the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing for all is, however, less clear. Numerous past experiences have shown that redevelopment projects adopted in preparation for the games often result in extensive human rights violations, particularly of the right to adequate housing. Allegations of mass forced evictions and displacement for infrastructural development and city renewal, reduced affordability of housing as a result of gentrification, sweeping operations against the homeless, and criminalization and discrimination of marginalized groups are frequent features in cities staging the events. The impact of these practices is mainly endured by the most disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors of society, such as low-income populations, ethnic minorities, migrants, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups (such as street vendors and sex workers). A. A positive housing legacy 7. The staging of mega-events commonly serves as a catalyst for the initiation and implementation of housing development plans in host cities. Greater flows of public and private investment are allocated to the construction industry once a city has been designated to host the events. Thus, host cities normally experience unprecedented construction activities that translate into greater availability of jobs and housing stock. Given the number of dwellings needed to accommodate large numbers of visitors, the city is faced with largescale redevelopment and urbanization. Urban development also often includes public plans for urban renewal, generally the “beautification” and “upgrading” of certain areas. Both central and peripheral areas of host cities are subject to transformation. Once the event is finished, the new dwellings may be available for the local residents, who will find their city transformed. 8. Examples of post-event use of venues for local housing include (a) in Moscow, the 1980 Olympic Games marked the culmination of a policy of construction of social housing with the transformation of the Olympic Village into 18 apartment blocks of 16 floors; (b) in 5 4 Stavrides, Stavros, “Urban identities: beyond the regional and the global. The case of Athens”, in Jamal Al-Qawasmi, Abdesselem Mahmoud and Ali Djerbi (eds.) 2008, Regional Architecture and Identity in the Age of Globalization, Proceedings of the Second International Conference of CSAAR, Tunis, pp. 577–588, 2005.