Leveraging Milan-Cortina’s hosting of the Games to address abandoned houses in nearby mountain villages
by Sarah Jeong, MCP’ 23
Can a one-off windfall source of funding and tourism visibility have lasting effects on the trajectory of housing abandonment? The 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics provides an opportunity to explore how short-term opportunities can intervene in a long-term problem of housing abandonment and deterioration. The Games will be held in venues across the alpine valleys of northern Italy, adjacent to towns that have high proportions of decaying residential units. I use a combination of case studies to analyze the legacy of previous Olympic Games investment on infrastructure in host cities, accommodation capacity data scraped by Google maps, and current plans for Olympic accommodation infrastructure to identify opportunities from the Games to address housing abandonment in rural alpine towns. I conclude that current plans to build Olympic housing in Milan will crowd mountain roads during the Games, and that there is a shortfall of existing hotel accommodations for 1.5 million visitors within an hour drive of Olympic venues. I propose an alternative strategy to invest in revitalizing existing residential infrastructure in towns closer to the venues. Investment in rural infrastructure could have short-term benefits of tourism exposure, as well as long-term benefits for housing visitors and attracting digital nomads.
Our masters program emphasizes growth and the future – growing populations, modernizing cities, self-driving cars. This practicum provided a unique opportunity to analyze shrinking towns. These towns are rich with ancient histories, and we are exploring strategies for reviving populations in ways that highlight and respect the heritage of these places.
Sarah Jeong