The goal of the studio was to imagine what Boston would be like as an olympic city of the Olympics were held here in 2024. My main concern and contribution to the project was what the economics would be like if Boston became a host city. I realized that there are three aspects to the economics of the the Olympics. The first part is the economy before, then the economy during, and eventually the economy after. I researched past Olympic cities and how they were effected when they hosted the Olympics. What I eventually concluded is that the Olympics can either help or hurt your city based on the state of the city’s economy before the Olympics start. For example, in Athens in 2000, the economy was never particularly stable to begin with, and after all the expenses it was even worse once the Olympics left. When I looked into London from 2012 I saw that London actually benefitted from hosting the Olympics, mostly because their economy was stable to begin with. 

Additionally, what I realized as I worked on this project was that to host the Olympics, the hosting city has to offer a fun environment for the incoming tourists. Going along with the theme and pitch of the entire project, united through fun, I thought of a few areas where Boston could be more entertaining. The ideas I thought of were more public art, extended T hours on weekdays, more lenient outside drinking laws, more street music, and solving some permitting issues with alternative housing. For each of these topics I made pictograms to display in the book.

Public Art: The main idea behind this was to have more street artists and art stands on the main streets of Boston. Allowing people of all ages to be artistic and enjoy more art. 

Extended T Hours on Weekdays: Boston recently just extended the T schedule on weekends allowing people to stay out later on weekend nights, but since the Olympics last over a couple weeks, extending the T hours on weekdays too would be beneficial. 

More Lenient Outside Drinking Laws: There are some laws in Boston that don’t allow people to drink off certain properties. So, in order to generate more fun for people of age, allowing these laws to change, even if its only temporary, would allow people to have a better time. 

Street Music: Similar to street art, street music will let people of all ages have a good time on the main streets of Boston. 

Alternative Housing: Many tourists and athletes would come to Boston on the occasion of the Olympics, and all of them will need a place to stay. Fixing some of the permitting issues with alternative housing will be helpful in the case that Boston needs to be more original with where people will stay. 

Throughout the whole project I can to realize that it takes a lot more than people think to host the Olympics, but with help in the right areas, Boston can certainly do it.