Output details

Sustainable Olympic Design and Urban Development

This text describes research carried out to determine how a modern Olympic Games (Routledge 2009) can successfully develop a sustainable approach by combining an understanding of the past with current design standards. It represents the main outcome of a ground-breaking research project conducted between myself and Hanwen Liao, making use of detailed information gleaned from the Olympic Archives in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Liao worked for several months. It has resulted in our being invited to contribute advice and information for bodies involved in the planning and delivery of the London 2012 Olympics. Olympic Games consume vast resources to plan, construct and host; not just for the Games venues themselves but also for the many additional elements which must be developed by host cities. The impact on urban development is immense and the legacy of the Games must be engineered to be a positive one. The limited time of seven years from the announcement of a host city to the holding of the Games makes guided planning and development essential, based on pre-existing understanding of the host city and sports needs. Research into Games history identified varying influences, particularly over the last 60 years; it also indicated potential for both extravagance as well as efficiency. An assessment and evaluation tool to guide future Olympic decision making was developed based on a detailed analysis of: existing Games procedures set out by the International Olympic Committee and the various International Federations which govern each sport; and the records and reports from each of the Games held since 1896. Based on the research, the text sets out key requirements of issues to be considered and their context, and provides an adaptable evaluation and scoring system within indicator tables for benchmarking and review purposes.