Description
Richard Cashman, with a Foreword by David Richmond AO. Published in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies, University of Technology Sydney.
Sydney Olympic Park 2000 to 2010 is the first extended study of the realisation of post-Games legacy in an Olympic city. It raises many new questions about the nature of legacy and when legacy obligations end.
The book refutes the sceptics of the immediate post-Games era who said the Park would not become a valuable community asset. It traces how a sports park has been transformed to become ‘a new piece of the city’, as Lawrence Nield, the principal author of the 1995 Olympic Master Plan, put it.
Lavishly illustrated and based on some 50 interviews, the book tells the story of both the Park itself and the people involved in its realisation.
‘Richard Cashman’s work capably captures and crystallises the events and circumstances’ of the history and legacy of Sydney Olympic Park ‘and at the same time provides an analytical assessment of the results to date’.
David Richmond AO, Foreword
Sydney Olympic Park has promoted a new and unique model of post-Games legacy in that it has combined sports and environmental legacies with commercial development. This development of the Town Centre by the private sector — where hotels, banks, offices and residential towers have mushroomed since 2000 — has helped offset the costs of community assets such as the Parklands.
After a slow beginning Sydney Olympic Park has proven a success story. The number of people visiting the Park has doubled in the past decade and will more than double again by the time of the realisation of the 2030 Master Plan.
The story is important to tell because the Park generated much bad press in 2001 and 2002, when local and international sceptics proclaimed it a white elephant. The scale of investment has also been much larger than any previous public development in Sydney or urban Australia, such as Darling Harbour or Centennial Park. And to many people it remains a special and symbolic place, etched into the memory of Sydneysiders and Australians who remember the Games with fondness and nostalgia.
Book chapters
- Introduction
- The Genesis of Sydney Olympic Park
- The History of Homebush Bay
- The Creation of Sydney Olympic Park
- Post-Games Challenges
- Governance and Management
- Commercial Development
- The Parklands
- Sports Town
- Venues and Events
- Communities
- Art, Culture and Education
- The Future of the Park
