State of the Legacy: Interrogating a Decade of ‘Olympic Regeneration’

2022 marks the 10th anniversary of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Bartlett’s UCL Urban Laboratory and Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP), in collaboration with the University of East London, Cardiff  University (Welsh School of Architecture) and Oxford Brookes University, will host  a conference on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th September 2022 at venues in and around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to interrogate and critically reflect on London’s Olympic and Paralympic legacy in the post-games period, from social and spatial justice perspectives. 

The event will analyse the games' effects in the context of longer processes of social, economic, and physical transformation in east London over the last 40 years, and explore the changing urban political imaginaries and policy agendas that have shaped approaches to regeneration practice and research  during that time. It will  foreground a variety of voices and perspectives and identify evidence-based lessons relevant to future urban planning and regeneration in both the UK, and other Olympic host cities . 

The Olympic Legacy Conference is part of a series of initiatives that aims to both strengthen community connections and co-produce knowledge that is embedded in the vibrant, pre-existing social, cultural, and political context of east London alongside local people, organisations, and stakeholders.  

Sessions will include a range of formats, from research papers and presentations, to film, storytelling and visual media, as well as Q+A discussions.  In the spirit of community accessibility, the conference is free of charge.

*If you have any access requirements, questions or concerns about this event, please get in touch at urbanlaboratory@ucl.ac.uk