Regeneration and the role of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

With London about to host the world’s nations in a bacchanalian celebration of sport, ‘Brit’ power, brand, and all things Olympic, it is perhaps easy to be distracted from the Games’ more sober legacy. The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 — the body tasked with independently assuring the sustainability of the 2012 programme and legacy — has taken a detailed look at what London will be left with once the party is over. The question on everyone’s lips is whether the 2012 programme will have fulfilled its key objective to transform East London. The authors shed light on progress and the Commission’s proposal for the Lea Valley to 2042. They highlight that the physical legacy is second-to-none and the socio-economic gains to date are also ground-breaking for an Olympic Games. However, several key objectives have missed the mark, including waste infrastructure and renewable energy, and on sports participation. The authors point out that making a difference in the longer term requires optimising the significant opportunity that the project has provided to extend the social, environmental and economic regeneration throughout the length of the Lea Valley, drawing on deep, sustainable city-systems approaches.