ABSTRACT
After a contextual introduction that highlights the challenges thrown up by the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games – postponed for a year and held in spectatorless stadia due to the coronavirus pandemic – this chapter maps out the key issues tackled in this book. It opens with detailed discussion of the complex and evolving relationship between the International Olympic Committee and the cities that host its ambulatory Summer and Winter festivals. The ascendance of legacy as a key element in recent Olympic projects is noted, along with the concerns that this emphasis brings. The final part of this introduction provides an outline and brief synopses of the twenty chapters that follow, which comprise three main sections. The first supplies overviews of the four main festivals – the Summer Games, their Winter counterparts, the Cultural Olympiads, and the Paralympics. The second contains six chapters that systematically examine specific aspects of planning and management: finance; sustainability; the provision of Olympic Villages; security; urban regeneration; and tourism. The final section comprises eleven city portraits ranging from Rome 1960 to Brisbane 2032.
