As London finalizes its plan to host the 30th Olympiad, ULI Europe offers a timely review of the effectiveness of ‘event-led regeneration’ and the real estate implications of the London Olympic Games. Our ‘Creating a Legacy’ event on 30-31st May, which features a tour of the Olympic Park, has very few places left so please register straight away.
London will become the first city to host the summer Olympics three times in the modern era, but the transport and sustainability challenges of delivering an event of this scale will provide a major test to London’s ambition to achieve ‘smart city’ status: Microsoft’s ‘The Anywhere Working City’ published this month, offers an assessment of what can be learned from London’s technology-enabled approach to transport sustainability during the Games.
Cities from across the world are currently competing to host the 2020 Olympics with Doha, Baku, Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid leading the list of contenders. Other cities are investing in their hosting capabilities and infrastructure in a bid to become viable hosts for events ranging from the World Expo to football’s World Cup. ULI’s Infrastructure 2012 report, published this month in partnership with Ernst & Young, provides an expert commentary on today’s infrastructure issues as cities face an era of austerity.
And, finally, to remind ourselves of the trading environment that creates much of the economic drive in our cities, Real Capital Analytics’ new data on the outgoing quarter reminds us that, sports aside, there is still plenty to compete for in this challenging economic climate.
Joe Montgomery
CEO of ULI Europe
