Olympic urbanism of the past, present and future. A special issue of Planning Perspectives.

The Editors of Planning Perspectives have commissioned a special issue dedicated to Olympic urbanism which will be published to coincide with the Paris Games in 2024. In line with the Journal’s focus on planning histories, authors are invited to submit original papers that address the historical dimension of Olympic urbanism: in particular, how the Games have integrated with, or redirected, wider urban and regional planning and / or the legacies of Olympic plans or specific Olympic projects. Papers might address, but are not limited to, the following:  

• How shifts in planning practices have affected the Olympics Games, but also how Olympic Games projects have shaped urban and regional planning.   
• How planning for Olympic projects has addressed environmental goals/sustainability in the past and lessons that might be learned with respect to the ongoing climate crisis and the shift in emphasis away from urban regeneration towards regenerative urbanism.  
• How one iteration of the Games might have been built on, or influenced by, previous editions. Notably, Paris is a city that has staged the Olympic Games multiple times (1900, 1924, 2024), so papers that cover host cities that have previously been awarded multiple Games are encouraged (e.g. London, 1908, 1948, 2012; Los Angeles, 1932, 1984, 2028; Tokyo, 1964, 2020; or Beijing, 2008, 2022), especially where they identify interrelationships between editions.   
• The intersection between Olympic events and other mega-events.  
• The implications of ‘failed’ Olympic bids or Olympic ‘non-events’.  
• Paralympic urbanism: the realised and unrealised potential of the Games as vehicle for delivering accessible urban environments. 
• Explorations of the legacies of some of the newer editions such as the Youth Olympic Games and European Olympic Games.