Sport as a strategy for sustainable local development: The experience of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina

ABSTRACT

Sport, as a complex and polysemic concept, offers an arena from which to explore socio-physical relationships, traversed by political dynamics that are structured between local and global in a given context. The international community has early recognized sport as a means to achieve peaceful coexistence and promote healthy lifestyles. Modern mega sporting events, in particular, often express the policy orientations of a social conjuncture, in dialog with the realities imposed by globalization. At the same time, mega sporting events help to establish positive discursive links at a global level, achieving consensus on key political issues. In this sense, the United Nations works to promote – among the Member States – sports initiatives that allow synergy with the goals proposed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, paying special attention to the contributions of sports practices in what they have to do with: alleviation of poverty, improvement on universal education, achievement of gender equality, prevention of diseases, commitment to environmental sustainability, guarantee of peace, and achievement of peaceful resolution of conflicts. Taking the above into account, this article aims to offer the reader a theoretical reflection that immerses itself in the potential of sport as a catalyst for sustainable local development and peace. In order to accomplish that, the unique experience of the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) as host of the Youth Olympic Games during 2018 will be reviewed, selecting those issues that would allow recognizing this edition of the youth games as an initiative for local development and for the promotion of values in pursuit of sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport
• sustainable local development
• 2018 Youth Olympic Games
• Buenos Aires

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Olympic truce, which would be in time retrieved by the Modern Olympic Games thanks to the United Nations.

2. Official website IOC: https://www.olympic.org/youth-olympic-games

3. A decentralized unit of political and administrative management which, in some cases, consists of more than one neighborhood from the city of Buenos Aires

4. The mission of the Secretaría de Planeamiento from the Ministerio de Desarrollo Urbano del Gobierno de la Ciudad is to design and implement policies to transform urban quality, with a focus on a city to enjoy, which guarantees the integration of the most vulnerable and in which all residents can develop their potential (https://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/desarrollo-urbano/secretaria-de-desarrollo-urbano/directora-general-de-planeamiento-urbano)

5. The Premetro is a 7.4-kilometer long (4.6 mi) light rail line that runs in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

6. The government of the City: Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (GBA by its acronym in Spanish)

7. The Ibero-American General Secretariat and the Ibero-American Sports Council.

8. It plans and implements interventions aimed at the urban inclusion and integration of the slums, promoting participatory urban projects for the creation and recovery of spaces in the slums, transitory housing units, and housing complexes (https://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/habitat/programas)