Olympic and Paralympic Games

The Olympic Games is the biggest sporting event in the world with a global audience of four billion people. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will mark the third time London has hosted the Olympic Games.

Developing and building the Olympic Park and other venues and infrastructure for the Games was an enormous task and was underpinned by good town planning.

What has been achieved has received international interest and acclaim - on the eve of the Games the RTPI's Professor Gavin Parker was interviewed by Japanese TV about how good planning was integral to the bid for the Games.

The Games will bring lasting regeneration benefits to East London, after the Games the Olympic Park will be transformed into a '21st century garden city' linking into surrounding neighbourhoods.

The London 2012 Olympic Games take place from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The Paralympic Games take place from 29 August to 9 September 2012.

Learning legacy 

Read Martin Willey's interview with Vivienne Ramsey, Director of Planning Decisions at the ODA, on the planning lessons from London 2012.

In October 2011 the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) launched the London 2012 Learning Legacy project. Its aim is to share the knowledge and lessons learned from the development of the London 2012 venues and infrastructure, documenting best-practice examples and innovations for the benefit of future projects.

The project is centred on ten themes:

• Archaeology

• Design and engineering innovation

• Equality and inclusion

• Health and safety

• Masterplanning and town planning

• Procurement

• Project and programme management

• Sustainability

• Systems and technology

• Transport

Find out more about Learning Legacy.

What the RTPI is doing

The RTPI is committed to celebrating best practice and sharing of knowledge. We believe that the Games are a success story for planning. Planners have been at the heart of the project promoting good design, managing change, determining planning applications efficiently, being champions of regeneration, sustainability and accessibility. We will work with the ODA to disseminate and promote the lessons learnt around planning and regeneration.

We will build on the tasks we have previously undertaken, including a site visit to the Olympic Park with the RTPI's Regeneration Network in February 2011 and the Big Legacy for a Big Society conference hosted by RTPI London in July 2011, on the Games and their legacy.

We recently held a free event on the 1st of May on the Olympics Learning Legacy Project, in conjunction with the ODA. The ODA also hosted a tour of the Olympic Park for RTPI members. 

We will continue to look at ways of disseminating the Learning Legacy information. If you would like to get involved then please e-mail policy@rtpi.org.uk.