ABSTRACT
Since Barcelona’s Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee, host cities and academics have made some progress to better understand the concept of legacies. From refining urban policies to social and environmental impact studies, from the Olympic Games Global Impact (OGGI) assessments to the Transfer of Knowledge (TOK) program, new measures have been set forth in an attempt to harvest the best possible outcomes through the Olympic Games, including urban regeneration projects. To achieve sustainable legacies, the International Olympic Committee has started to place more and more emphasis on potential host cities to justify key legacy aspects as part of their bid files. Being included in Theme 1 as the overall concept and vision for the Games, legacies have become a crucial evaluation criterion for winning the bid. The newest candidature procedures and initial questionnaires of 2016 ask two particular questions targeted to not only understand legacy aspirations because of the Games, but also probe urban trajectories irrespective of the Games. Question 1.4 demands potential host cities to justify benefits of bidding for the Games irrespective of the bid’s outcome. Presumably, this question is targeted to identify the catalytic effect the Games could bring to the city and the region. Question 1.5 demands not only a listing of key Olympic legacy initiatives but also their linking with the city’s/region’s long-term planning and objectives. In addition, host cities are encouraged to describe how these initiatives will “be supported, financed, monitored and measured by all relevant stakeholders prior to, during and post-Games” (IOC 2008a: 66_256).
