ABSTRACT
Mega-events such as the Olympic Games operate within a number of cultural and political frames. The relatively rapid and spectacular intervention in the built environment characteristic of such events serves complex practical, social and politico-aesthetic functions. The 2012 Games has delivered iconic buildings. It remains to be seen if the London Olympic project will contribute to transform neighbourhoods sustainably, to renew socio-cultural engagement in the city and to support improvements in health, the economy and sports. London 2012 is concurrently conceived as a now-imminent global sporting event and as a legacy-driven urban project – with horizons in 2015, 2020 or even 2040. Notable is the Five Olympic Host Boroughs of East London Strategic Regeneration Framework, intimately linked to the Olympic project and proposing that
Within 20 years the communities who host the 2012 Games will have the same social and economic chances as their neighbours across London.
