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Over decades, mega‐events have enjoyed increasing global popularity as catalysts of significant urban renewal both on and beyond the event grounds. Nevertheless, although some mega‐events are exemplary in their transformation of some places, post‐event failure of others highlight a lack of long‐range planning. Yet, such a paradoxical relationship between spectacularity and sustainability has, so far, received little in‐depth analysis. Building upon the Yin‐Yang theory, the purpose of this paper is to identify the Triple‐C gap and argues that planning for mega‐event led renewals (MELRs) is an issue of dualism rather than dichotomy.

This paper adopts the multiple‐case study approach. Two methodological steps are taken to seek a greater understanding of the issue at global and local scales. One is a review of eight mega‐event cases in the West to identify post‐event sustainability challenges. The other explores these challenges through an examination of the Expo 2010 development as a chapter of the Huangpu Riverfronts Renewal in Shanghai China.

The eight historical cases and Expo 2010 unanimously challenge the dichotomy between event staging and post‐event sustainability. It is therefore high time for future client organizations to rethink how to find a convergence.

With lessons drawn, the article concludes that planning an MELR should be pre‐post oriented and serve as a catalyst for broader‐scale improvements.

This pioneering study constitutes a much‐needed reference for future mega‐event hosts to rethink their commitment to MELDs, which will hopefully spark more interdisciplinary interest.

This paper aims to seek a greater understanding of the conceptualization of mega-event flagship (MEF) development as a point of departure to forge the much-needed organizational capacities in these regions. An MEF constitutes a temporarily themed venue for a mega-event and a transforming force on corresponding urban renewal. The unfailing demand for MEFs from emerging hosts after historical failures in the West draws attention to a glaring weakness of extant literature in wanting of evidence-based case studies.

Due to the explorative nature of research and the context-dependent complexities, the case study method is used for studying the case of Theme Pavilion – one of the four key flagships led by Expo 2010 to catalyze an ambitious urban renewal in Shanghai, China. The focus is on its conceptualization process (2004-2007) where different copying strategies were tested and consolidated to facilitate the post-event transformation. Data were collected mainly through participant observation in that duration.

For future Expo hosts, exhibition center developers and the event industry, the study concludes with eight constructive lessons, namely, clustering strategy, different integration, pre-post orientation, diversification for adaptation, development by stage, flexible mindset, the end crowns the work and building local capacity.

Given the qualitative nature of the study, some results may not be fully generalizable. While showing the possibility of sustaining MEF development given the right coping strategy, it also reveals implementation difficulties and emphasizes the importance of continued case studies.

The study will contribute fresh insights into forging better strategies to cope with transformation difficulties of MEF development and building greater capacity to accomplish affiliated renewals and other significantly comparable urban projects in emerging economies.

A mega‐event flagship (MEF) refers to a popular instrument developed for staging a mega‐event and catalyzing area‐based urban regeneration. Despite its lasting appeal and controversial nature, insufficient research on its critical early stage has been done to provide useful analysis. When the clients lack appropriate capabilities to confront sustainability challenges, MEFs may end up functioning poorly in the post‐event era and even hindering the progress of intended renewals. The purpose of this study is to enhance MEF clients’ capabilities in meeting sustainability challenges at the early stage and ultimately producing responsible MEFs of enduring worth.

The multiple‐case study method was adopted due to its widely recognized reliance on multiple sources to facilitate in‐depth analyses. Data were collected through archival records, documentation, direct observation and participant observation.

By proposing a comprehensive development framework based on the findings of multiple‐case studies, this paper corrects a misunderstanding of such a development being an end in itself, and contributes new insights into the definitional early stage of MEFs.

The fact that MEFs are a global phenomenon as well as a local undertaking leads to a need to develop a database of useful lessons and critical decisions from previous MEFs, to establish a best practice targets system in future research.

As an initial attempt, this paper lays the groundwork for research on MEFs by investigating how mega‐event hosts have prepared in meeting its sustainability challenges.

Expo 2020 is scheduled to open on October 20, 2020, and will be the largest mega-event to-date in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, drawing in up to 300,000 visitors a day, half of them from abroad, in its six months of operation. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on how the story has evolved in terms of preparation for the event since Dubai won the bid to host Expo 2020 in 2013.

Content analysis of the existing literature was undertaken and industry white papers and government portals were consulted to assimilate knowledge sources and to formulate an informed opinion about the impact of Expo 2020 on Dubai.

The backdrop to Expo 2020 is outlined, followed by an overview of events with the support of literature. The pre-event buildup in terms of policies and infrastructure is assessed and an impact analysis is performed based on the framework of the triple bottom line model. The framework is used to explore post-event challenges, and the steps that will need to be taken by stakeholders and policymakers are also discussed.

There is a dearth of academic literature on Dubai as a destination. This paper brings into focus the importance of Expo 2020 to Dubai's sustainable development and, thus, addresses a critical gap in literature.

In recent years, China has accelerated the modernization and renovation of the sports facilities, which greatly promoted the development of sports in China. However, adaptability and renovation experience in our country is lacking, moreover, the reconstruction of the stadium has certain blindness. In this study, the adaptability of the external and internal spaces of the stadium were analyzed and studied separately. The external transformation transformed the stadium into an open space to be combined with the surrounding environment. The internal transformation mainly expands and functions richly. The stadium can enhance the level of competition and the opening of the transformation through the case study of the adaptability of the Z stadium.

While discourse abounds regarding the potential impacts of sports mega events on host cities, existing ideologies about, strategies for, and systematic examinations of “legacy” effects are poorly understood. This chapter presents a sociological examination of the sport mega-event legacy measurement process.

In this chapter, we reflect on our own involvement in legacy evaluation in the context of the 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games in Toronto to examine existing legacy measurement strategies, review their findings, and present a theoretical detour via the past for consideration in future sociological contributions to the legacy measurement process.

Data discussed in this chapter suggest a need for the creation of a more sociologically informed, methodologically robust and piecemeal rather than Utopian-oriented “report card” measurement device for legacy evaluation.

Based on the review of evidence, we contend that if sociologists of sport remain committed to keeping their roles, as public intellectuals, applied researchers or participatory activists in the sport for development/legacy nexus, those involved might do so with a greater attention to focusing on what Karl Popper (1961) refers to as piecemeal social engineering strategies and measurements, and attending to those legacies both on and off the event organizing committee radar screen.

A mega‐event flagship (MEF) refers to a purpose‐built building flagship for a global mega‐event and a popular instrument to catalyze urban renewal in the host city. Despite their lasting popularity and volatile outcomes, such highly controversial developments have received little analysis. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the research.

To bridge the Triple‐C Gap identified, a case study method was adopted in the form of participant observation, due to the author's special role as a key project coordinator of Expo 2010. To provide a good reference for comparable developments, it takes three steps to study the Expo Center (EC) – one of the four MEFs of Expo 2010. First, planning rationales are explained to form a holistic understanding of the Big 4 as an integrated whole. Then, a pilot questionnaire survey is reported to identify pressing issues on a broader scale. Finally, the early stages of the EC are investigated in six dimensions.

The study concludes with significant lessons in shaping the early stage of a MEF, as well as correcting a misunderstanding of such a development being an end in itself.

Certain constraints in participant observation have been minimized since the author maintained a relatively independent role as a process facilitator, which is different from the traditional role of a design manager or a project manager.

A timely reminder to rethink the commitment to MEFs, this explorative study offers new insights into MEF research and will be of cross‐boundary value to a wide spectrum of people and agencies.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact indicators of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition from the perspective of residents and to investigate the effects of these impacts on the urban sustainability through the perceptions of Taipei residents after the exposition.

The authors conducted a literature review and consulted experts to identify the impact indicators of the exposition. This process resulted in 17 indicators of economic impact, 12 indicators of environmental impact, and 13 indicators of social impact, and the authors developed a 12-dimension/42-indicator mega-event impact measurement scale. Using a survey of 1,628 host residents after the exposition, the authors performed regression analysis to investigate the effects of these impacts on the urban sustainability.

The results indicated that economic, environmental, and social impacts exerted significant positive effects on urban sustainability. All positive dimensions of economic, environmental, and social impact exerted significant positive effects on urban sustainability, and all negative dimensions exerted nonsignificant effects on urban sustainability.

This study identified the impact indicators of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition and investigated the effects of these impacts on the urban sustainability. The findings of this study indicated that economic, environmental, and social impacts of the exposition exerted significant positive effects on urban sustainability.