The 2016 Summer Olympics will be here in just weeks. While the trials are on and teams are being formed, construction workers are hard at work finishing dozens of massive projects. It is a process that repeats itself in cities all over the world, this time in Rio.
It is expensive and risky, but it often pays off. There are those who argue that the money should be spent in other ways. In Rio, there are neighborhoods and favelas without basic services.
On the other hand, the spotlight surfaces these issues, pushes these cities to new heights, and makes them each global from that point forward. Atlanta is a wonderful example of a city that made a step up the global ladder when it hosted the Olympics in 1996.
What if you had just a few short years to begin and complete dozens of transformative projects in your city? Where would you start and what would your priorities be? How big are you willing to think? How could you transform your city and complete projects that would leave a legacy?
In less than a month we will see if Rio gets it all done. I’m sure they will and that the legacy of being host of the Games will last for decades.
-Kenny McDonald
One Columbus Update
This week, the One Columbus team will travel to China to meet with companies.