The challenge of urban design in securing post-event legacies of Olympic Parks

Abstract

Olympic Parks demand a very distinctive built environment in order to function for their primary purpose, namely to host major sporting competitions. These spaces, however, require substantial reconfiguration in the post-event mode to ensure viable, mixed use and liveable places. This paper evaluates the challenges of transforming Olympic Parks, using evidence from four past hosts: Munich (1972), Sydney (2000), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016). The discussion raises questions about retaining the ceremonial focus of the Olympic Park and whether a more decentralised model might make the associated urban design and planning legacies more deliverable for future host cities.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Mark Brayshay for his constructive comments on a previous draft of this paper. Credit also to Jamie Quinn and Tim Absalom for the cartography.