From the MIT Press Reader, January 30:
Dirk van Laak examines the legacies of major infrastructure projects,
shedding light on the complex relationship between political agendas,
technological dreams, and public discontent.
A few years ago, a sourcebook on the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, which took place in Moscow, was published in Russia. The volume documents the potential of “exceptional events” to revitalize existing infrastructure, but also dissects the many ways in which such projects can fail. The Soviet Union had applied to the International Olympic Committee to host the international competition in 1956; not until 1974, when a favorable political constellation emerged during a period of détente, did Moscow receive the commission. Now, the Soviets had to invest in facilities and accommodations.
Transportation and communication needed improvement, security and energy supplies had to be bolstered, and measures for minimizing environmental impact were taken. The wheels were promptly set into motion. But preparations coincided with economic stagnation, and Soviet leaders recognized, as early as 1976, that meeting expectations would prove impossible. The Games were nearly canceled. Ultimately, they were held after all, because the loss of face would have been too great.
Like many large-scale projects, the undertaking followed a course of its own. Cost-cutting measures and time pressures meant that standards of quality sank and undermined the soundness of facilities. Plans for expanding the highway ring around Moscow and other roadways fell behind schedule. So that public transportation would be available to foreign visitors, authorities limited its use by Soviet citizens during the Games.
One residential complex under construction was converted into an Olympic village, and the organizing committee found it necessary to import almost all the television technology for broadcasting events from the United States. Worse still, almost as soon as the slapdash arrangements were more or less done, in 1980, the United States and a sizable number of Western countries announced that they would not be participating because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year. All the same, former residents of the Eastern Bloc remember the Olympic Games as one of the last great events before the collapse of the Soviet Union — a grand, symbolic display of state socialism. Without much competition, the Soviet Union and its allies had many occasions to celebrate victory....
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