The failure to secure a full-time tenant for the Olympic Stadium, the centerpiece of London's Olympic Park, has cast doubt on one of the selling points of the city's Olympic bid - its post-games impact.
With plans to secure a soccer club as the Olympic Stadium's long-term tenant "repeatedly thwarted and delayed by financial, logistical and legal obstacles," observers are already questioning the long-term legacy of the games just six months after they concluded, reports Sarah Lyall. "The delays have frustrated not just West Ham [one of the clubs hoping to move into the stadium], but also legislators monitoring the financial legacy of the $14.3 billion London Games. Legacy was one of the catchwords of the bid, along with sustainability, with organizers emphasizing again and again that they had viable plans in place for every new structure they built — particularly the stadium, the centerpiece of the new Olympic Park."
“'The problem is that there are so many promises that have been reversed that it’s hard to know what promises to believe,' said John Biggs, the chairman of the budget committee at the London Assembly, speaking of the stadium."
"The tussling over the stadium’s future illustrates a perennial problem for Olympic hosts: how to find post-Games uses for the beautiful, splashy, exorbitantly expensive sports arenas they are required to build to secure the Games in the first place," writes Lyall.
Although London has done better than other prior host cities in finding uses for its facilities after the games, the viability of the 560 acre Olympic Park depends on "what happens to Olympic Stadium, the one site capable of bringing in tens of thousands of people at a time."
FULL STORY: London Games Over, Future of Olympic Stadium Remains Uncertain

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)