Planning legacies

• Align mega-event planning with spatial visions and long-term strategies.

• Plan for the mega-event legacy from the inception/bidding stage.

• Spread out mega-event locations to avoid the overuse and overcrowding of iconic sites

Since mega-events accelerate and amplify urban development processes, cities should align their planning with spatial visions and long-term strategies to make the most of the potential benefits that can extend beyond the time frame of the events themselves.

• Mega-event interventions should be part of a more comprehensive spatial vision and long-term strategic planning to avoid negatively impacting heritage areas through oversized facilities, infrastructure and problematic political, spatial and socio-economic trends.

• The host city should envision mega-event planning through multi- or trans-scalar approaches that enhance tangible and intangible relationships with the broader region by mobilising the supra-local networks typical of mega-events.

• All plans should consider short- and long-term environmental and landscape impacts, with the goals of sustainability and reduction of adverse effects on the historic urban landscape and natural heritage.

Mega-event planning should be legacy-oriented starting from the inception/bidding stage, embracing shared and reflective approaches to culture, heritage, and city identity.

• Mega-event planning processes should consider long-term legacies not only in terms of the ‘hardware’ (physical space and infrastructure) but also ‘software’ (cultural program and practices), seeking to sustain activities and their impact even after the mega-event is over.

• Policymakers and event organisers should not instrumentalise the stringent deadlines of the mega-event to override land-use regulation or bypass heritage decision-makers, especially regarding historic areas and assets.

• Mega-event planners and heritage policymakers should foster agreements and partnerships to build political consensus and synergies that can bypass gridlock, accelerate decision-making and deliver projects on time.

• Organisers should earmark part of a cultural mega-event budget and put in place appropriate policy tools to ensure conservation planning and practice over time.

Locating mega-event sites throughout a city can help avoid overcrowding and counterpoint the overuse of a few iconic locations and their "festivalisation".

• Distributing events throughout the urban space can encourage broader citizen participation, instil a sense of pride in local heritage sites and disseminate new opportunities. This can help avoid reproducing or generating new inequalities between city centres and peripheries.

• Larger sports or other events should synergise with smaller simultaneous cultural events (e.g. Cultural Olympiads) to extend their life over time and across space, avoiding immediate post-event decline.

• Expanding the time-frame of the mega-event and improving accessibility to less popular cultural venues can help prevent the commodification of heritage and the Disneyfication of a few iconic sites, protecting their authenticity and allowing social distancing, if and when required.

• The use of digital technologies and platforms should encourage

• hybrid physical/online events in heritage spaces to attract new audiences and ensure social distancing, if needed, without obstructing cultural participation and heritage appreciation.

• Open spaces, parks and rural areas can provide greater flexibility in event planning, reducing inherent uncertainty. Such spaces can better adapt to different sized audiences.