Sustainable and Livable Open Spaces in the City of Doha: an Investigation into the Legacies of Mega Sport Events

With the aim of diversifying its economy and developing itself as a tourist destination, in recent years, Qatar has hosted many international sports events and will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Doha, its capital city, is literally under construction, and is facing important changes in terms of transportation, infrastructure, and sports facilities. However, past experiences show that outcomes from staging major events are mostly harmful, and their legacies planned to last only for a short time. This trend is even stronger when considering how sports facilities and their surroundings are utilized after the event is over. Usually, sports venues are under-used and very costly to maintain, while their neighborhoods are underutilized and abandoned pieces of cities. What will be left after the 2022 World Cup? How to leverage this event as a momentum of experimentation and sustainable growth of its capital city, Doha? Within this context, the aim of this research is to identify strategies to plan and maximize the post-event use of event sites and venues, and make their neighborhoods more livable and sustainable. The research has a specific focus on the city of Doha, which hosted the 2006 Asian Games and will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It starts with a critical review of relevant precedents from the Western and Eastern world, and then continues with an in-depth analysis of three selected case studies: the cities of London, Sochi, and Rio de Janeiro that recently hosted major sports events. Finally, the study focuses on the context of Doha, investigating firstly its public spaces, and transport and planning systems, and then analyzing the government’s legacy plans for the 2022 World Cup. Results include firstly a framework for the comprehensive appraisal of site events and venues, by evaluating their sustainable legacies and assessing their impacts; secondly, the research define a set of recommendations for organizing committees and host cities to help them transform sports venues and events sites into lasting, sustainable and livable open public spaces, and, more generally, to define strategies for achieving successful legacies from the host of mega sports events.Qatar National Research Fund GSRA1-1-1119-1300

Doha and its Sports City: an assessment of the long-term legacies of the Aspire Zone

A growing phenomenon, which is gaining attention worldwide, is the rapid diffusion of themed-sport areas as legacies of mega-sporting events. An example of it is offered by the city of Doha. On the occasion of 2006 Asian Games, the capital of Qatar faced some significant urban transformations. The principal legacy left after staging the event is the implementation of the Aspire Zone, Doha's Sports City. Is this legacy beneficial in a long-term perspective? What is the value added to the city and its inhabitants? This study attempts at providing insight into the potential offered by themed-sport areas as legacies of mega events, and it aims at evaluating the rationale for the realization of sports dedicated zones, analysing their impact from a physical and social perspective. Specifically, the research offers an investigation into the long-term cost-benefit effect of the Aspire Zone, Doha Sports City, by conducting a post-occupancy evaluation. Conclusions show that there is a potential to realize sports-oriented area that are fully integrated into cities, but the design of a comprehensive and long-term plan is needed. Moreover, providing a sports city with a variety of different activities and functions will contribute to attracting different types of users and avoid occasional use. Mega-events have existed for a very long time, but it is only since the last century that they have been perceived and adopted as tools of urban transformation. Many scholars define the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome as the first example of event intentionally used for urban redevelopment purposes, while the Olympic Village set for the 1972 Olympics in Munich is considered an early case of event led sports city, as the village was concentrated in one main area (the Olympic Park), instead of being spread around the city, and as it was specifically designed for delivering urban leisure. Both Rome and Munich opened the way, and nowadays cities are increasingly competing and bidding to secure the hosting of mega-events, attracted by their potential urban regeneration effect. However, results are not encouraging, and literature shows how difficult is to transform event sites into well-integrated areas inside cities

Spaces of mega sporting events versus public spaces: Qatar 2022 World Cup and the City of Doha

In the last decades, many emerging countries have been staging mega sporting events more and more frequently. Among those nations, Qatar stands out for being the first Arab country to host a FIFA World Cup. With the rationale of diversifying its economy and promoting itself as a tourist destination, Doha, its capital city, has recently staged many international events and is literally under construction, undergoing important changes in terms of transportation, infrastructure, and sports facilities. While hosting cities and organising committees often promote the supposed benefits of a mega event, experience shows an opposite trend: outcomes from staging major events are mostly harmful, and their effects are planned to last only for a short time. When it comes to sporting events sites, stadiums, and their precincts, they usually become under-used and very costly to maintain in a very short time, and their precincts are completely abandoned. What will be the destiny of the 2022 World Cup stadiums and infrastructure? How can this event be leveraged as a momentum of experimentation and sustainable growth of its capital city, Doha? Is it possible to transform the Cup’s stadiums and precincts into liveable, enjoyable and well-integrated public spaces and neighbourhoods? This work focuses on the city of Doha, which hosted the 2006 Asian Games and will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and aims to identify strategies to plan and maximise the post-event use of event sites and venues, more specifically stadiums, to generate more liveable and sustainable public spaces. The article investigates Doha’s public spaces, and analyses the government’s legacy plans for the 2022 World Cup, with a specific focus on stadiums and their precincts. The research aims to be a warning to future hosting cities and presents a series of suggestions on how to best leverage the stage of mega sporting events to promote healthy and liveable public spaces

Public transport in the Gulf Region: is the development of a BRT system a viable option for Doha?

Motorisation is increasing globally, especially in major cities of Asia and the Gulf region. To illustrate, over the last decades, Doha, the capital city of Qatar, has experienced a fast urban growth along with a wide increase in the need for new transportation options. Recently, the Qatari Government has planned to improve Doha’s transport system, by developing projects that include a new metro and light rail scheme. On the other hand, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)’s track record provides a compelling case for more cities to consider it as a transit priority. Within this context, this article critically examines three relevant factors (implementation time, cost effectiveness, and performance) for the successful dissemination of BRTs in relation to the city of Doha. The article argues that the implementation of a BRT scheme is a beneficial and effective alternative to the metro scheme that is under construction in the city

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: an assessment of the 2012 London Games

The London 2012 Olympics were the first Games with a legacy plan already in execution well before the beginning of the event. This study aims at evaluating the legacies of this Olympic edition, with particular regard to the new public open spaces created and their sustainability. The research carries out a post-occupancy evaluation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which is the main output of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Results show good achievements in terms of physical and social integration while the economic impact appears to be the weakest legacy from hosting the Games

How to build an Olympic legacy

The London 2012 Olympic Games are widely considered to have been a huge success, both in terms of the event itself and the legacy that followed. New research published today in City, Territory and Architecture evaluates the legacy of this Olympic edition and highlights ways to optimize the Olympics for host cities and build beneficial legacies

Qatar 2022 World Cup and its legacies: how to promote sustainable and livable open spaces in the city of Doha through mega sports events?

With the aim of diversifying its economy and develop itself as a tourist destination, in recent years, Qatar has hosted many international sports events and will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Doha, Qatar's capital city, is literally under construction, and is facing important changes in terms of transportation, infrastructure, and sports facilities. However, past experiences have shown that the outcomes of staging major sports events are mostly harmful, and their planned legacies last only for a short time. This trend becomes even stronger when considering how sports facilities and their surroundings are utilized after the event is over. Usually, sports venues become white elephants, and their neighborhoods islands of placelessness, underutilized and abandoned pieces of the city. What will be left after the World Cup? How to leverage this event as a moment of experimentation and sustainable growth of its capital city, Doha? In this context, the aim of this research is to identify strategies to plan and maximize the post-event usage of event sites and venues, and make their neighborhoods more livable and sustainable. The research has a specific focus on the city of Doha, which hosted the 2006 Asian Games and will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It starts with a critical review of relevant precedents from the Western and the Eastern world, and then continues with an in-depth analysis of three selected case studies, namely the cities of London, Sochi, and Rio de Janeiro that recently hosted major sports events. Finally, the research focuses on the context of Doha, investigating its public spaces and planning system, and analyzing the government's legacy plans for the 2022 World Cup. The expected results include a set of guidelines and recommendations to help Doha transform its sports venues and event sites into lasting, sustainable, and livable public open spaces, and, more generally, to define strategies for achieving successful legacies from the host of mega sports events. The results of this research can also be applied to other Gulf cities that share many similarities in terms of their urban form and planning systems, and that face for the first time the challenges and opportunities offered by the host of mega events

A new paradigm in the Gulf abstract

[Extract] On June 5th2017 Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt (the “Quartet”) cut their relations with Qatar. The Quartet decided to withdraw their ambassadors and impose a travel and trade ban. This has caught Qatar by surprise, which did not expect such drastic steps to be taken. Due to the Quartet actions the financial outflows and the costs have been massive for Qatar, but the system can absorb great shocks because of accumulated reserves and the income from the export of gas. The financial burden is nevertheless hitting the state hard, and it will be more and more difficult to sustain the current level of expenditure. So far Qatar has managed to adjust to the new reality mainly thanks to the financial reserves accumulated in the last two decades, the use of networks and an effective PR/lobbying campaign

Building a Lasting Legacy: Beyond Qatar 2022

Doha, the capital city of Qatar, was a tiny, sleepy urban settlement with an economy based on fishing and pearling until the 1970s, when the discovery of oil and natural gas triggered unprecedented and rapid urbanization. During the second half of the 20th century, Doha transformed itself from a small village to an emerging international urban centre with a population of more than 2 million people. After this first urbanisation process, linked to the increasing oil production, Doha is now facing a second urban transformation led by a new development strategy, which has been implemented to diversify its economy. Tourism has been identified as a fundamental pillar to diversify the local economy as well as to brand the city to attract new international investments. Sport has also a key role, and it is indicated in the country's 2030 National Vision as an example of economic diversification from the oil-based model. The Qatari government has been investing heavily to transform the country into a sporting hub and has facilitated this process by encouraging the migration of international athletes and trainers towards its capital city, and by hosting several international sport events every year. This process of transforming Doha into a sports city has started with the Asian Games held in 2006 and will culminate with the stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. With an estimated expenditure of 220 billion US dollars, four times the cost of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games - evaluated in 55 billion US dollars and considered the most expensive Winter Olympics ever- and more than five times the total expenditure of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing - estimated in 40 billion US dollars, the economic impact of the World Cup on the country is unprecedented. These costs are also aggravated by the critical economic and political context that accompanied the preparations of the Cup, characterised by the crisis in oil prices, between 2014 and 2020, and by the challenging diplomatic relations Qatar faced with some of the Gulf neighbourhood countries between June 2017 and January 2021. What is the rationale behind the host of mega sporting events? What will be left after the 2022 World Cup is over? How to leverage this event as a momentum for experimentation and sustainable growth of its capital city, Doha? Are there any contemporary best practices or useful trends promoting urban liveability and sustainability that can be adopted by future hosting cities? What is the future, and the legacies, of the eight stadiums and sporting infrastructure built on purpose for the 2022 World Cup? And most importantly, how can Qatar's and specifically Doha's residents benefit from the stage of this events? Based on the analysis of official documentation and accessible planning documents, particularly of the bid book, interviews with experts, and site visits of the stadiums' precincts and selected area within metropolitan Doha, this research attempts at answering those questions by appraising the urban legacies of the 2022 World Cup and the impact of the event on the urban environment in the city of Doha. Results show a risky approach of using mega-events to trigger the implementation of massive construction plans, especially when developing at the same time both new sporting venues and new city-level infrastructure. The Cup, as many sporting events did in the past, is at risk of generating white elephants and unnecessary infrastructures, with a large consumption of economic resources and land. If long-term legacies and a wise post-event use of venues are not carefully planned, it may indeed erode the opportunities to implement more sustainable urbanism projects. Recommendations and strategies for shifting towards more capable, and sustainable planning of mega sporting events and post-event legacies are suggested in the research

Fragmentation, polarization, and discontinuity of Doha's planning practise: the urban legacies of the 2022 World Cup

Since the 1990s, Qatar has experienced an unprecedented economic development along with rapid urban growth and motorization, which together have created new social and business opportunities for the local population but also important challenges for the local government, especially with regard to a sustainable development of the country