1 of 23

Changing places: investigating regeneration at London’s Olympic Park

2 of 23

Getting started

You’ll need a notepad on which to make notes as you go along, or you could make notes, paste images, etc. on your device.

You can view these slides:

as a slide-show for any animations and to follow links
in ‘normal’ view if you want to add call-outs or extra slides to make notes, paste images, answer questions.

3 of 23

The Olympic Park as a regeneration project

This presentation is about the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Studying the Olympic Park is both an excellent case study for Changing Places and a popular area to investigate for the Independent Investigation (NEA). �

This presentation looks at:

how the area has changed since 2012
how different stakeholders have been affected differently by the regeneration
what needs to be considered when evaluating success.

4 of 23

The Olympic Park as a regeneration project

This enquiry begins by asking you to think about who will have been affected by the regeneration and how they will have been affected.

Key changes to the Olympic Park area are discussed before you’re asked to consider how successful this regeneration has been.

Depending on who you ask, what you read and which data you look at, opinions on the success of the Olympic Park regeneration are different. This is key to remember as you work through this enquiry and answer the questions below.

What are the positive impacts and who have they benefitted?
What are the negative impacts and who have they affected?
Overall do the positives outweigh the negatives?
Overall, has the regeneration been a success?

5 of 23

How the area has changed

It is without question that the area has changed significantly since London was awarded the Olympic games.

Some of the key features of the Olympic Park are discussed in the next few slides. As you read about each change, remember to think critically about who will have been affected by these changes and how they will have been affected – this will be different for each group.

Activity

Which groups have been affected?

Before you read any more information, can you think of different groups of people who will have been affected by the changes to Stratford, the Olympic Park and the surrounding area?
How many different stakeholders can you name?

6 of 23

Who has been affected?

Examples of groups affected include:

elderly local residents
young local residents (children)
residents who have recently moved into the area
residents who rent in the area
home-owners in the area
local businesses
international businesses and business shareholders
local government.

Remember, each group will have been affected slightly differently.

As you go through this enquiry, consider how each group may have been impacted and will continue to be impacted in the future.

7 of 23

How have people been affected?

Activity

The images below were taken before the Olympic Park area was cleared to be rebuilt. Use the images to start making some notes on the possible effects of regeneration on the area: these notes should be added to throughout, as you discover more.

8 of 23

The Olympic Park regeneration timeline

These are the key features of the London 2012 legacy. Consider researching one or two specific events or details to find out more.

9 of 23

Click here to explore the area on Google Earth.

Find:

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
the Olympic Stadium
East Village
Westfields Shopping Centre
the International Quarter.

Look at:

the proximity of the Olympic Park to Canary Wharf and the centre of London.

Activity: Explore the area

10 of 23

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

This is the name given to the green space created by the regeneration of this area.
It is the largest new urban park in the UK for over 100 years.
It covers an area equivalent to around 300 football pitches.
It is open 24 hours a day and is free to visit.
Providing things for people to do in the park for free was a key aim of the legacy and this has been a success.
More than 23 million people have visited the park since it opened.
It now hosts regular concerts and sporting events in its venues.

Activity

This slide and the next few slides contain information about some of the key changes.

Make notes on each one, remembering to think different stakeholders.

11 of 23

East Village

The East Village was athletes’ accommodation during the games and was converted into flats shortly afterwards.
It is now home to over 6,000 people.
For many, this area is one of the real successes of the Olympic Park regeneration. �
However, the costs of living here may mean that its ‘success’ is contested.
Many people argue that the vast majority of the flats are simply unaffordable for local people, and that they have been forced out of the area by the regeneration.

12 of 23

The International Quarter (IQL)

This area was still under construction in 2021 and is not yet fully finished.
It is a 22-acre site where 333 new homes are being built, but the focus is more on office and retail (shopping) space more than residential.
Transport for London and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have opened offices here. UNICEF, Cancer Research and the British Council are also moving in, which will bring the total number of jobs here to 25,000.
This area has an ambitious vision: the website talks of ‘London’s best-connected new business district’ and of a ‘new neighbourhood, built for modern life and buzzing with energy’.

13 of 23

Read this article. It was written in 2008 and talks about the Clays Lane estate that was demolished in order to make way for the Olympic Park regeneration.

What was lost along the way?

Activity

Think about and make notes on:

whether or not you think the estate should have been demolished
the wider impacts on this community (beyond just moving away)
how the impacts could have been dealt with.

14 of 23

Read this article. It was written in 2017 and discusses how the debate about the success of the Olympic Park regeneration still rages on.

Debating the success

Activity

Think about and make notes on:

the different stakeholders/ players named, and how they view the regeneration of the Olympic Park differently.
the extent to which the area may have been regenerated without the Olympic games.
the extent to which the park is a ‘family-friendly utopia’ or ‘part-privatised nightmare’ (as discussed in the article).

15 of 23

For quantitative evidence of the impact of the regeneration, the Index of Multiple Deprivation is a useful tool.

Click here to compare the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores for areas around the Olympic Park in 2015 and 2019 – showing continued change over time.

Quantitative evidence of the impacts

Activity

Think about and make notes on:

how the IMD scores have changed (you could take screenshots)
which domain of the IMD has been most affected and why this might be.
What this document says about the changes that have been achieved since 2012.

16 of 23

Look at the photo below. How is the East Village being branded and portrayed in the photo?

Rebranding and re-imaging a place

Activity

Who is this likely to appeal to and why?
Who might feel excluded from this advertising and why?
How can we link these ideas to the question of how successful the regeneration has been?

17 of 23

Look at the photo below. How is the East Village being branded and portrayed in the photo?

Activity

Who is this likely to appeal to and why?
Who might feel excluded from this advertising and why?
How can we link these ideas to the question of how successful the regeneration has been?

Rebranding and re-imaging a place

18 of 23

The previous two slides show the area being rebranded and re-imaged in a very particular way. It has been argued that those most affected by the regeneration project are those local residents who can no longer afford to live in the area.

To consider this idea further, read these articles and add to your notes about the impacts of regeneration:

This open access academic paper is a little more complex but excellent: ‘It’s not for us’: Regeneration, the 2012 Olympics and the gentrification of East London.

Debating the success

19 of 23

At the start of this enquiry, the following questions were posed:�

What are the positive impacts and who have they benefited?
What are the negative impacts and who have they affected?
Overall, do the positives outweigh the negatives?
Overall, has the regeneration been a success?

Having completed the reading and looked at the data, what is your conclusion?

Has the regeneration of the Olympic Park been a success?

Coming to a conclusion

20 of 23

Glossary

Deprivation: lacking the resources considered to be the necessities in a society.
Domains: parts or components of something such as the IMD.
Index of Multiple Deprivation: a measure used by the Government to show how deprived an area is compared to the rest of the country.
Rebranding: the ‘marketing’ aspect of regeneration designed to attract businesses, residents and visitors. It often includes re-imaging.
Regeneration: long-term upgrading of existing places, or more significant renewal schemes for areas.
Re-imaging: how the image of a place is changed and portrayed in the media.
Stakeholders: a person or group of people with an interest in something.

21 of 23

Taking it further

For more information, look at these websites about the regeneration projects:

The East Village website �https://www.getliving.com/our-neighbourhoods/east-village/�
The Olympic Park website �https://www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/

The International Quarter website �https://www.internationalquarter.london�

22 of 23

Links

From the awarding bodies

Find out more

Explore these Geo units:

From the GA:

	Topic
AQA	3.2.2 Changing Places
Eduqas	B 1.3 Changing Places
Edexcel	Regenerating Places: 4A Diverse Places: 4B
OCR	2.1 Changing Spaces; Making Places
WJEC	A 2.1 Changing Places

23 of 23

Acknowledgements

This presentation has been written by Kate Stockings, Subject Leader for Geography, Hampstead School, London.

Figures

Slides 8 and 14: Photo source : https://www.geography.org.uk/London-2012-photos (Bob Digby)
Slides 9 and 15: Resources: Source of timeline: https://www.geography.org.uk/The-legacy-of-London-2012
Slide 17: Source of photo: https://www.getliving.com/our-neighbourhoods/east-village/?gclid=CjwKCAiAwrf-BRA9EiwAUWwKXtjzudF6ootnLbwn1lu_dBWX5MuxKZtvgV-O5bjgqjVxRzW-5_t71hoCOA4QAvD_BwE#
Slide 18: Source of photo: https://www.getliving.com/our-neighbourhoods/east-village/?gclid=CjwKCAiAwrf-BRA9EiwAUWwKXtjzudF6ootnLbwn1lu_dBWX5MuxKZtvgV-O5bjgqjVxRzW-5_t71hoCOA4QAvD_BwE#