The Dark Shadow Shrine

embrace the darkness; that you may see the light nestled within it......

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SPORT: Rebuttal to 'White Elephant' argument

This article contains a useful rebuttal to the 'white elephant' argument. Large venues created specially for large-scale sporting events need not languish as 'white elephants' after the games as they can be built in such a way that allows for downsizing and retrofitting for common use. A typical 'up-sized burger' can go like this:

Qn: Hosting major sporting events creates more problems than benefits. Do you agree?
1) beneficial because infrastructure in the hosting city is upgraded to welcome visitors, e.g. public transport network, such as the building of the New Delhi Airport for India's Commonwealth Games 2010.
2) However, most such facilities languish in disrepair and disuse after the games, and for those kept under maintenance, they are expensive to upkeep, e.g. Bird's Nest and Water Cube for Beijing Olympics 2008.
3) Bu this need not be the case, as large scale venues built for the games can be built in such a way that permits downsizing and retrofitting after the games is over, when there is little need for such enormous venues.....e.g. use the example mentioned in the article for the London Olympics.