Landscape after the 2030 Games fiasco

It cannot be ruled out that in eight years' time, when the Winter Olympics are held somewhere on the planet, many inhabitants of the Pyrenees will experience a certain sense of relief remembering the day the project was derailed.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
26 June 2022 Sunday 00:14
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Landscape after the 2030 Games fiasco

It cannot be ruled out that in eight years' time, when the Winter Olympics are held somewhere on the planet, many inhabitants of the Pyrenees will experience a certain sense of relief remembering the day the project was derailed.

The perception that the climate crisis will have then (a decade of heat waves and hurricanes later) will undoubtedly be more pronounced than it is now, in the same way that the issue worries us much more today than it did in 2012.

It is even possible that by then skiing was already beginning to be talked about as an exclusive privilege of the residents of the Arctic Circle.

But it is also evident that the way in which the alleged candidacy of the Catalan and Aragonese Pyrenees has been dismantled has left a bad taste in the mouth and the feeling of a lost opportunity.

Of course, the opportunity to promote mountain regions and to use the event as a catalyst for a shock investment in infrastructure. But also to interrelate territories that now turn their backs on each other.

From the outset, there was an opportunity to establish a more fluid and productive relationship between the center and the periphery, that is, between Zaragoza and its Pyrenees and between Barcelona and the Catalan territory as a whole. But also between the communities of Catalonia and Aragon, integrated into one of the economic axes (that of the Ebro valley) that challenge the dogma of radial Spain.

On the horizon is the year 2034, with the claim of new winter games to which the Pyrenees could aspire if it acted with greater generosity than now.

But it seems reasonable to ask whether the future development of the Pyrenees must be largely entrusted to a sport that, although distant, has an expiration date. They may not be so obvious, but there have to be other ways to boost the areas with the greatest infrastructure deficit.

The improvement of relations between Catalonia and Aragon, very unlikely in the short term at the institutional level, would have to be sought by civil society and, in particular, by the world of culture.

The end of the tiresome litigation over works of sacred art has removed an obstacle that had become entrenched even in cultural environments. Although it was not closed to everyone's liking, it is now a lawsuit from the past.

The Catalan political conflict has also seen more convulsive days, but it accentuated the distance between the capital and the rest of the Catalan territory, leading to a cooling of relations that still lasts.

In this context, the 2030 Games, of which Barcelona was also the venue, offered arguments to advance reconciliation and allocate money to improve the poor infrastructure in many mountain areas. This second issue should be the subject of a rethinking of the investment priorities of the different governments: 2034 is too far away.

Regarding the first, it must be the city of Barcelona that weaves networks to share the wealth it generates with the rest of the regions. No candidacy to host major cultural events or manifestations should be made without a multi-venue approach.

On a cultural level, people are already acting with that generous vision. The recent international symposium on electronic art (Isea) was spread over a dozen cities, with a special role in Reus at the hands of the New Art Foundation. In a more limited geographical area, the future Manifesta biennial will be held in 2024 in Barcelona and ten other metropolitan municipalities.

These are two recent examples. There are more, but they will never be enough to correct a dynamic that could well be defined as negative centrifugation: today, Barcelona spreads more poverty than wealth in its surroundings.