Syracuse Sun

As Paris hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics, the iconic city and its landmarks—from the Eiffel Tower to the Palace of Versailles—are on the world stage.

What does the world’s attention and huge influx of visitors mean for these grand architectural sites? Jess Myers, assistant professor in the School of Architecture, examines the issue through an urban planning lens. Myers lived in Paris in 2012 when the Summer Olympics were held in nearby London.

While hosting the Games is a significant achievement for any city, it also presents substantial challenges, particularly regarding infrastructure.

“Hosting the Olympics is a big deal, but it can also be an urban development disaster for cities if they’re not careful about it,” Myers says. “The danger is that you build up a lot of new infrastructure, then don’t end up using it afterward in everyday urban life, or those things end up being abandoned where they could have been repurposed into housing, a new subway line or something to that effect.”

In London’s case, much of the main Olympic infrastructure was located around the periphery, so the city center was not heavily impacted by security mechanisms. “You could still walk around and experience the city’s iconic architecture,” Myers notes.

This year’s Games—and Paris—present different challenges. Global conflicts have resulted in extraordinary security at the Olympics. As some events are happening at landmarks—beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower and equestrian events at Versailles—the experience of these landmarks is affected.

“The beautiful, fabulous thing about Parisian monuments is that they’re very much integrated into the urban fabric of the city,” Myers says. “You can take a casual free walk down the river Seine and see incredible things. You see the Eiffel Tower, you see the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. You see Invalides; you see Pont Alexandre III. There is continuity in this urban fabric. With security mechanisms put in place, all that linearity gets truncated and split up.”

Bringing events into central Paris has shifted focus away from peripheral areas where immigrant communities historically reside. “These spaces are also beautiful, and people who live there are proud of these places,” Myers states. “By not celebrating these areas, you lose out on celebrating what all those communities have brought to Paris.”

Holding events at historic landmarks restricts access to ticketholders only. “You don’t have that very Parisian happening where you stumble upon something striking,” Myers says. “Those are excellent images for tourism but negatively impact small businesses due to reduced foot traffic.”

These iconic landmarks will continue serving as locations and backdrops even after Olympic events conclude.

“The Eiffel Tower is a commercial symbol of Paris often more celebrated internationally than locally,” Myers explains. “It represents France generally without capturing what makes Paris unique.”

“It seems like while there is a celebration of these beautiful monuments, there’s also a desire to almost remove them from their context as if they’re hovering just above the city," she adds.

Myers will be watching U.S athlete Sha’Carri Richardson compete in women’s 100-meter races during these Games along with other track events featuring strong competitors like Jamaica's women's team.

More insights from Myers' experiences can be found on her podcast "Here There Be Dragons."