Atlanta 1996: a city renewed

The city’s tradition of public and private partnerships empowered the Atlanta 1996 Organising Committee, the business community and various government entities to use the momentum created by the Games to propel the regeneration of downtown Atlanta, improving the quality of life for residents while offering new opportunities to businesses. Twenty-eight competition venues were used to host the Games, 9 were newly built, 2 were temporary and 17 were existing, 14 of which were refurbished thanks to the event’s marketing revenues. Twenty-two venues remain in use today, along with wide-ranging upgrades to public art facilities, which is why many local leaders hail the still-expanding legacy of the USA’s most recent Summer Games.

Urban redevelopment

Atlanta 1996 accelerated a range of urban development projects aimed at improving the quality of life for inhabitants in downtown Atlanta, where most of the competition venues were concentrated.

As an example, Summerhill and Techwood Clark Howell Homes, two struggling neighbourhoods adjacent to Olympic venues, received significant investment. As part of a Games-fuelled redevelopment scheme led by the Atlanta Housing Authority and the Atlanta Development Authority, nearly 150 new housing units were built in Summerhill and more than 780 were completed in Techwood Clark Howell Homes, which was renamed Centennial Place in 1997 and remains a thriving mixed-income neighbourhood today.

In addition, three inner-city parks were upgraded, more than 10,000 trees planted and more than USD 500 million spent on new landscaped plazas and promenades. Although much of the transport focus was on Games-time provision, some improvements were made to the wider network. A regional traffic management system was incorporated in the city centre, two downtown bridges reconstructed and pedestrian access between transport links and sporting hubs improved.

However, while some communities in downtown Atlanta benefited from the urban redevelopment schemes, others were adversely impacted, including those relocated to the northwest portion of the city, those who felt that the use value of their homes and neighbourhoods had been reduced through the transformation of the area and those affected by gentrification processes.

Centennial Olympic Park

The Games took place predominantly in downtown Atlanta within the Olympic Ring, whose compact 5-mile diameter encircled the state capital, the city’s convention facilities and many of the inner city’s low-income residential areas, a number of which were pinpointed for regeneration.

The Centennial Olympic Park sat at the heart of the Olympic Ring and transformed a previously run-down urban area into an enduring new centre of entertainment, public celebrations and family gatherings in downtown Atlanta, providing a beautiful green connective corridor between the city’s downtown hotels and its convention and sports facilities.

Situated on 21 acres of downtown Atlanta, the park was, at the time of the Games, the largest urban green space created in the USA in 25 years. Since the Games, it has served as a catalyst for economic development downtown, attracting more than USD 3.2 billion in investments along its perimeter and its surroundings. Along with the CNN Centre, which sits on its southwest side, the park is now surrounded by the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, the College Football Hall of Fame and the National Centre for Civil and Human Rights, which opened in 2014.

In addition to these public attractions, the park helped serve as the catalyst for the construction of nine new hotels and seven new residential towers downtown. These developments helped reverse the declining population at the core of the city. Before the Games, there were fewer than 5,000 people living in downtown Atlanta. Within 10 years of the Games, there were 10,000 residents and there are currently more than 15,000 people living downtown.

Unfortunately, the park also carries with it the tragic memories of a bombing attack which occurred on day 10 of the Games. One person was killed directly from the blast, another died from a heart attack and 110 others were injured. The park was subsequently closed for three days while the Games continued. This tragedy brought people together in a universal appeal to continue the Olympic Games in the spirit in which they were started. The park reopened with a memorial service and reopening ceremony. The 40,000 people who participated in the park’s emotional reopening demonstrated their unwavering support of the celebration of the Olympic Games

Today, the park remains the city’s centrepiece for concerts, popular festivals, and annual celebrations and in early 2019 the finishing touches of a large-scale renovation were completed. Popular features, such as the Fountain of Rings, were given a facelift, and the park itself was expanded, adding greenspace to one of the most sustainable legacies of the Games.

Arts and culture

The preservation, renovation and promotion of public art is one of the most visible legacies of Atlanta 1996.

From the conversion of the crumbling Clark Atlanta Library into the vibrant Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, to the 2017 restoration of Folk Art Park, the cultural effects of the Games can still be felt across the city.

The Atlanta Public Arts Legacy fund (APAL) was created in 1997 to maintain Olympic public art at 19 sites in downtown Atlanta. Between 1997 and 2016, it distributed more than 175 grants. In alliance, Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs still maintains full-time staff to oversee, restore and preserve art originating from the Games.

Economic benefits

The Games kickstarted a major change in Atlanta’s reputation both in the USA and internationally.

According to a one-year retrospective, published in the American Planning Association journal in 1997, Atlanta was routinely confused by the international business community with Atlantic City before the Games. Yet, by 1997, the city had become commonly referred to as Atlanta or even simply its airport code, ATL.

This change in attitude, combined with improvements in infrastructure, transport, accommodation and telecommunications, helped create favourable investment opportunities. In 2012, the then-mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, highlighted to Olympic.org that the Games “created a direct economic impact of at least USD 5 billion and branded Atlanta to the world as a first-class place to do business, live and visit”.

Previously known primarily as a USA transport hub, Atlanta has become a renowned centre of international business and a well-known host of sporting events.

Sports infrastructure

Brick-and-mortar remnants of the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996 can be seen dotted around the city. While 17 Games-time sporting venues existed prior to the Games, nine were newly built for the purpose of the Games and two were temporary structures. Eight of the new venues remain in use and are thriving.

Two of the city’s premier universities, Georgia State and Georgia Tech (Georgia Institute of Technology) continue to see direct benefits from the Olympic venues. Purpose-built for the Games, the Georgia Tech Aquatic Centre has remained a hub for Olympic-level sporting action and become a thriving community asset, with classes and clubs open to the public daily.

Meanwhile, the Centennial Olympic Stadium has been home to Georgia State University’s college football team since 2016. Previously, the stadium hosted Major League Baseball (MLB)’s Atlanta Braves for nearly 20 years, having been specifically reconfigured for this purpose following Atlanta 1996.

Georgia International Horse Park – which existed prior to the Games – has continued to prosper since hosting all the Olympic equestrian events, mountain biking and the final two stages of the modern pentathlon in 1996. Its popularity as a community asset was visible in 2019 when it was voted the best outdoor venue in Georgia by the Official Best of America TV award show.

Three Atlanta 1996 venues failed to provide a meaningful legacy. The Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, which hosted the Olympic baseball events, was demolished in 1997 as there was no viable use of it in place. The Stone Mountain Park Tennis Centre, built for the Games, did not appeal to a local audience and was closed in 2007 and demolished afterwards. Meanwhile, the owners of the Alonzo Herndon Stadium, which hosted the Olympic hockey events, filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and the venue remains empty.

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