The age of the Olympic Games and the structural formation of mega-cities

comparative research of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to capture the features of “the Age of the Games“ examining cases of the 2008 Beijing Games compared with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and to explore the influence of structural formation on these two megacities in East Asia. Although it is generally recognized that Beijing followed a similar development route as Tokyo almost a half century before, this research shows the differences of the two events from three dimensions, namely, city planning, economics, and social problems such as relocation.