Olympics Earn a Gold Medal in Displacement

As plans unfold for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, MIT's Lawrence Vale and Annemarie Gray consider the case of Vila Autódromo, a former fishing colony on the Olympic site whose residents have organized to resist displacement.

While most of the community was shown intact in the competition-winning site plan by AECOM, Olympic planners are now signaling that residents will be evicted, and replacement housing is under construction. The Vila Autódromo Residents' Association has organized to resist displacement.

On Places, Vale and Gray compare ongoing events in Rio to the demolition of Atlanta's Techwood Homes, the first public housing in America, prior to the 1996 Olympics.