ABSTRACT
After twenty-fi ve years of ‘regeneration’, East London has entered the twentyfi rst century at the centre of the largest urban renewal scheme in Europe – the Thames Gateway, a government designated regeneration area that stretches from the City of London to the mouth of the Thames Estuary. In this latest and most expansive phase, the area has become a laboratory, a site of social experiments in community development that incorporate a mix of wealth and poverty, high and low rise and social inclusion and exclusion. It was in this context that London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was conceived and Stratford, in the borough of Newham, identifi ed as the main location for the Olympic Park (see fi gure 8.1). The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) support for London arose from the city’s focus on regeneration in an area of cultural diversity and social deprivation that incorporated fi ve designated ‘Olympic boroughs’ – Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. The IOC’s concern with ‘legacy’ – a concern arising in large part from the necessity to legitimise the huge expenditure involved in hosting the Games – was addressed directly by the London bid. The 2012 Games, according to the bid’s authors, will provide a major catalyst that accelerates an existing and ambitious plan for urban renewal.
