Sochi 2014 - a BRIC on the road to perdition

Abstract

In this study we undertake an analysis of the major transportation projects developed for the 2014 Sochi Games from a materialist perspective. We seek to uncover the degree to which these projects conform or diverge from a series of primary assumptions regarding mega-event related infrastructure projects in recent host cities. In a first moment, we lay out these assumptions as evidenced in the literature, building a case for why it is likely that Sochi 2014 infrastructure would likely cohere to previous models. Secondly, we examine these assumptions within the context of preparing and hosting the Olympics. We look at the discursive frameworks within which the Russians communicated the necessity of hard infrastructures for the realisation of the Games. In a third moment, we look at the geographic dynamics of the Sochi region impacted by the Olympics, turning to the case study of a road and rail system that linked the coastal Olympic cluster with the mountain cluster. We conclude by linking the development and delivery of superfluous, over-priced, and ineffective transportation infrastructure to the exogenous demands of the IOC that were exacerbated by the conditioning factors of Russia´s neo-patrimonial redistributive mechanisms.