ayeshakhawaja
commented
10 months ago Looked through Google Earth images of Brazil, Russia, and Qatar's World Cup stadiums.
Brazil No significant visual changes for Brazil's stadiums between 2014 and 2023. Even the stadiums that were built specifically for the World Cup were built on sites where smaller fields/stadiums already existed, so there wasn't any visual displacement or destruction of the surrounding area.
Russia No significant visual changes for Russia's stadiums between 2018 and 2023. But:
- Houses/other buildings may have been demolished to build Nizhny Novgorod Stadium and Mordovia Arena.
- Rostov Arena, Samara Arena, Spartak Stadium, Kaliningrad Stadium: were built for the World Cup, satellite images show lots of green space that was built over -> potentially an environmental angle?
Qatar No significant visual changes for Qatar's stadiums between 2022 and 2023. But:
- Lusail, Al Bayt, Al Janoub, Education City, Al Thumama: constructed in the desert, tough working conditions
- Stadium 974: made of shipping containers, random buildings at the building site there before it was constructed
Next step: wait for data collection to see what satellite images we want to include (whether it's worth it to show transition from green space to stadiums in Russia, or empty desert to stadiums in Qatar)
Find 1-2 satellite images of the stadiums and/or neighborhoods that hosted World Cup games in Brazil, Russia, and Qatar. The goal is before-and-after comparisons of stadiums, but if a city revamped its transportation infrastructure to prepare for the World Cup, or if some other topographical change was made due to the World Cup, then those images would work too.