London 2012: What's in it for the locals?

Come 9 September, London will have closed its curtains both for the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. But what has it meant for those living around the area where the Olympic Park was built, and most importantly, what will it mean in the aftermath of the Games?

We have seen London write history in the modern Olympics as it became the first city to have hosted the Games three times, previously in 1908 and 1948, the second time after a long pause in the Olympics in the aftermath of the World War II. The iconic sporting event, coupled with the Cultural Olympiad that is the London 2012 Festival, has put its mark on 2012 as the biggest global event of this year.

But perhaps, the real impact of the Games for the British, more specifically the Londoners, will have to bear the test of time. Whether Prime Minister’s aspiration for the Olympic legacy will come true: “Make sure the Olympics legacy lifts East London from being one of the poorest parts of the country to one that shares fully in the capital’s growth and prosperity.”

Seven years ago last month, London was announced as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics, beating Paris in a close race. The celebrations might have been cut short in the 7/7 bombings the next day, but one of the UK’s biggest redevelopment and regeneration projects began full swing.

Along with hosting the greatest sporting event of modern history, the UK conceived the Olympic Games as an opportunity to bring East London out of its notorious economic deprivation, the 11th poorest area in the UK. Money has been pouring into the East London borough of Newham, where the Olympic Park was built over a land between Hackney Wick and Stratford, as well as the boroughs that border the Park, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Greenwich and Waltham Forest.

Click here for full article (British Council Turkey Blog)