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To study the spatial layout of urban sports parks, the constraint graph model was used to quantitatively analyze the construction of urban sports parks in China. At the same time, theories on the construction and development of urban sports parks and urban renewal at home and abroad were reviewed. The construction status of urban sports parks in China was systematically studied. Foreign case cities were investigated. Finally, the case cities in our country were discussed. The results showed that in addition to the influence of certain policies and economic factors, the development of sports parks was affected by factors such as urban space development, population size and living distribution, urban culture, regional environmental characteristics and the layout of original sports resources. Therefore, the impact of the above factors should be considered in the development of sports parks and their spatial layout. The layout of the sports park should be balanced to meet the diverse needs of the residents.

Many Olympic cities are faced with the challenge of converting various remaining infrastructures after the Games have been held. These infrastructures, often imposing and highly specialized, require local actors to innovate and engage in an urban renewal process that can be very complex and expensive when trying to give them a second life as tourism sites. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Based on an online survey administered to international travellers (n=5,553) and 36 semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders, this study shows that the Olympic Park, mainly through the stadium, has international recognition.

However, the sustainability and development of these attractions will need a major overhaul with its welcoming amenities and the integration of the surrounding neighbourhoods in the regeneration plan.

Among these facilities, we have the Montreal Olympic Stadium, which is often identified as the architectural jewel of the games and is used as an urban flagship in tourism development strategies. This situation raises several questions not only in the field of tourism, but also the fields of urban studies, leisure and sociology. This paper will examine the case of the Olympic Park in Montreal and its urban regeneration concepts and place branding that have been integrated into the tourism strategies since the early 2000s.

The concept of national fitness has promoted the construction and development of public sports. And how to effectively implement the layout of urban public sports planning has become a hot topic. Based on this, in the study, the layout and integration of the public sports cities in modern cities for the national fitness were mainly discussed. First of all, the research background of the planning and layout of public sports in modern cities under the concept of national fitness was expounded, and the development of urban public sports theory was briefly outlined. Then, the planning and layout of public fitness in modern cities were analyzed. Finally, through the planning and construction projects of public sports in modern cities, the design of public fitness corridor, community road and Sports Park was carried out. It is proved that the scientific and rational planning of sports cities can promote the development of the city.

The purpose of this paper is to reframe analyses of stadium and arena subsidization policies from perspectives centered upon economic and financial issues toward a perspective focused on broader issues of urban governance and the public purposes of sports facilities. Such assessments would provide a better understanding of whether such use of public resources represents good public policy.

To demonstrate this, the paper uses an integrated literature review to offer a historical analysis of sport facility development within the context of the broader assumptions that shape public policy and how sports have been used toward achieving particular public goals. This history provides a foundation for an analysis of sports facility development within the current moment as cities require team owners to invest in redevelopment activities in the neighborhoods surrounding sports facilities.

This paper asserts that focusing on the economic and financial aspects of sports facility development is a perspective that is too narrow. Instead, this paper shows that a more holistic approach, beginning with the dominant mode of urban governance and how its assumptions underlie the public purposes for which stadiums and arenas are used, provides a better explanatory framework and a deeper understanding of the issue in the contemporary moment.

Moving beyond the question of economic efficacy, the public purpose-centered approach of this paper seeks to place subsidization policies into a broader dialog with other priorities toward maximizing the public good among the broadest population.

This study aims to focus on the development and upgrading of the Hagley Park cricket oval in Christchurch for the 2015 Cricket World Cup and how this hallmark event was used a catalyst to rebrand the city following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

This paper is based on the findings from research conducted between 2012 and 2016. Data for the analysis were collected from mainstream media, sport organisations websites and government archives. In addition, a two-round series of semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders was undertaken in the aftermath of the Cricket World Cup.

In the case of Christchurch, the earthquakes and the destruction of much of the downtown provided a recovery opportunity, with the 2015 Cricket World Cup used to expedite the development of a new sporting venue in the city centre and rebrand the city to international tourists and sport enthusiasts.

The Hagley Park cricket oval case study provides evidence on the rhetoric of urban competitiveness and the use of hallmark sporting events to reframe urban development in post-disaster contexts.

This research provides further evidence on the logics of disaster capitalism and how cities embark on costly redevelopment projects for sports and events whilst overlooking exacerbating vulnerabilities among the local community.

This study aims to investigate whether the correlation between Saudi Arabia’s social and economic reforms, urban megaprojects and sustainable urbanism can lead to an increased quality of life (QoL) in the capital, create a comprehensive lifestyle setup for Riyadh’s residents while also aiming to attract foreign investment.

This research examines five government-sponsored mega-destinations and their master plans against the objectives of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030’s Quality of Life Program. Furthermore, the author analyzed to what extent the proposed projects fulfill global mandates of sustainable urban development and how they might help raise the QoL for Riyadh’s residents. The author’s methodology rests primarily on detailed policy evaluation proposed by Vision 2030, literature research and data collected from proposed urban development plans. In parallel, the author conducted informal conversations with people living in affected areas and architectural offices who are involved in the design of the five megaprojects. After collecting the data for each project, the author compared the QoL Program criteria to the data of the proposed megaprojects to examine to what extent the proposed designs implement the QoL criteria of Vision 2030. In the last step, the author evaluated whether and how the proposed plans adhere to globally established guidelines of sustainable urban revitalization by studying possible overlaps and contingencies on an urban level.

The analysis reveals that although each case study project targets one or more specific lifestyle domains, the projects combined fulfill all lifestyle categories specified in Saudi Arabia’s QoL program. In addition, each project contributes measures to improve livability in the categories of urban design and environment, infrastructure and transport, social engagement and safety while also providing a range of economic and educational opportunities for different demographics. In terms of sustainable development criteria, the analysis demonstrates that all case studies provide ample measures to enhance Riyadh’s mobility by providing greenways for pedestrians and cyclists, which connect to public transport. Furthermore, when strategically combined as a series of urban layers, the projects demonstrate potential to form urban synergies among different lifestyle domains that could positively affect existing and proposed neighborhoods, particularly when extended through an inclusive, participatory planning framework, which, in turn, could significantly raise the QoL for a broad socioeconomic demographic.

This research reveals the complex role of megaprojects as change agents for socioeconomic reforms, as signifiers of livability and as planning frameworks to implement sustainable urbanism in Saudi Arabia’s capital, while also creating a lifestyle infrastructure for Riyadh’s residents.

With their sensitive approach to climate, ecologically driven landscape projects and regionalist architecture inspired by the traditional Arab city, these case study projects may serve as an example to other countries in hot arid zones on sustainably revitalizing their urban environments.

This study demonstrates how social and economic reforms intertwine with sustainable urban planning and placemaking to create a comprehensive lifestyle setup for Riyadh’s residents that has not previously existed. On the planning side, this includes creating a massive public infrastructure that encourages walkability and residents’ active participation in recreational, cultural, entertainment and sports activities. However, as the analysis has also revealed, while offering a large number of public facilities, the projects do not embrace a mixed-income project model, which would allow low-income families to live within a market-rate environment. In addition, one of the projects entails the displacement of benefit low-income and migrant communities. Although the government has a separate program that specifically aims at providing affordable housing in other areas of the city, these model destinations primarily target luxury tourists and affluent Saudis, potentially cementing existing socio-spatial divides in the city. Consequently, the megaprojects demonstrate Saudi Arabia’s conflicted response to the logic of entrepreneurial neoliberalism: on the one side, progressive attempts to promote an egalitarian approach to urban livability; on the other, strategic efforts to use megaprojects as spectacular showcases in the global marketplace.

The correlation between Saudi Arabia’s socioeconomic reforms, megaprojects and sustainable urbanism in Riyadh has not been previously explored. Compared to Western countries’ cities, few attempts have been made to investigate the role of livability in the context of emerging countries’ fast-growing urban areas. This paper presents a considerable case study in Saudi Arabia that ties into a more extensive debate on cultural globalization where cities, particularly in the developing world, use megaprojects as change agents to reconstruct their urban territories according to standardized livability indices to elevate their image in the global marketplace.

Since the 1960s, the impact of mega sporting events on the built environment has become increasingly important, and the relationship between hosting cities and events increasingly complex and controversial. The outcomes of these mega-events, however, are very discouraging, especially in terms of the state of sports venues and event sites. In many cases, Olympic parks and event sites stand abandoned once the event is over, and sports facilities are often either closed or underutilized. The purpose of this paper is to identify replicable best practices and successful examples used in mega-events to transform events sites and venues into livable public open spaces (POS), enjoyed by the local communities.

Three cities were selected for this investigation: London, Sochi and Rio de Janeiro. London hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics, and this study focused particularly on its Olympic park, Queen Elizabeth Park. Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics but also some of the matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics and also a part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Each case was investigated according to a methodology composed of interviews with experts, site visits, and analysis of the bidding book and post-event reports to check the consistency between promises and legacies.

The research identified a framework of six major elements that determine, or contrast, the long-term use of events sites and sport facilities, and highlighted some main attributes to consider in order to transform sporting event sites into livable and enjoyable open spaces. It is expected that this framework can be used as a guidance to deliver sustainable events and long-term legacies and to define a strategy for optimization of planning mega sport events.

Mega events provide near-unique, fast track opportunities for urban transformation. This research can be used as guidance for the overall mega sporting events stakeholders, such as the IOC, FIFA, and local organizing committees, to identify replicable best practices and successful examples in the leverage of mega events to transform events sites and venues into livable POS.

Why is it so difficult to transform event sites and sport venues into livable areas of cities? What are the recurrent mistakes, issues, and challenges that hosting cities have to face? This research is unique as it aims at answering these questions by defining a framework of relevant factors for hosting cities to help them in the planning of mega sporting events. The research also highlighted some recurrent mistakes, such as the exorbitant costs of a mega event, the inability to keep the initial budget unchanged and the difficulty to adjust plans to local needs.

In order to explore the theory of the spatial layout of urban sports facilities, starting with the analysis of theoretical knowledge, the current situation of public sports facilities in the central urban area of Jinan is analyzed, the various factors affecting the planning layout are discussed, and the strategies and methods of the layout planning of public sports facilities in Jinan are summarized. The results show that the layout planning of public sports facilities should follow the corresponding patterns and principles. The layout of public sports facilities at all levels should fully consider the factors of urban public transport, urban management system, urban public functions, and reasonable service radius of public sports facilities. It can be seen that excessive pursuit of efficiency will lead to excessive service radius and poor accessibility of urban public sports facilities; excessive pursuit of fairness will result in a small and scattered layout pattern, which easily leads to idle waste.

The aim of this paper is to present a research approach that can contribute to a sustainable development of urban spaces for sports and physical activity, comprising theoretical reflections and directions for applied research.

This research builds on an urban real-world lab in a city district. It is based on principles of transdisciplinary research and intense processes of participation.

Five projects with regard to sport and physical activity development were implemented. The projects resulted in exchange and learning of citizens and other stakeholders as well as transformations of the social and built environment.

Instead of top-down research and planning this approach enables bottom-up processes in which affected citizens and stakeholders can contribute to sport and physical activity development.

The approach can help to integrate sport and physical activity development and transformative processes of sustainable development in urban areas.

Through participation and involvement, citizens can be empowered and social capital can be generated.

Urban real-world labs are a new approach for sport and physical activity development. This approach opens up the possibility to include sport and physical activity development in processes of city development. Hence, urban real-world labs are able to address an integrated urban and sport development process and can be used for city marketing purposes.

This paper explains how the location of motorsports events is an integral part of the marketing of the sport of motor racing and of all its attendant commercial interests. Case studies of the major motorsports events staged in public street circuits in Australia are used to illustrate how the locations have particular symbolic significance that adds legitimacy to the sport of motor racing, and the messages and impacts associated with these events. The paper examines the wider significance of allowing special public spaces in cities to be used for motorsports events, and contends that the marketing of sporting events should not be considered independently of the major challenges facing the world.