Mega sporting events and their impact on the built environment: Lessons learned from the past

Abstract

In recent decades, mega sports events, like the Olympics or FIFA World Cups, have been more and more used as urban policy tools to renew and transform entire neighbourhoods of cities. Many scholars have investigated contemporary case studies; however, only a little attention has been given to historical precedents and the way they were leveraged as successful tools of experimentation to develop and renew strategic areas of cities. This research reviewed selected past examples from the Western and the Eastern world and derived four best practices for contemporary hosting cities and event governing bodies. Results show that practices as the use of temporary facilities, the leverage of events for experimenting new urban templates and patterns, the attention to local needs and the use of local resources, the full integration of sports venues within the surrounding areas and the awareness of the interrelation between political power and events can lead to beneficial legacies.