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London, meanwhile, was able to use the 2012 Olympic Games as the stimulus for one of the largest and most ambitious transformation projects undertaken in Europe in recent times. As well as the development of the 560-acre (2.2sq km) Olympic Park Ð the largest green space to open in the city for more than 100 years, which features landscaped parklands, waterways and childrenÕs activity zones Ð the Games also led to the regeneration of surrounding areas in east London, including new transport links, a shopping centre and the construction of new residential districts.The 2012 Games also created many intangible lasting benefits, such as the Inspiring Sustainable Living projects, which are supporting people in learning more about the environment and providing information to help them reduce their energy, recycle more, grow food in an urban environment and promote cycling and walking. London 2012Õs sustainable food strategy has also led to the creation of three ground-breaking projects that are delivering a powerful legacy for sustainable food across Great Britain. They include the establishment of 2,012 community food-growing spaces in London, a programme to encourage British businesses and government to adopt London 2012Õs sustainable food standards, and another to educate and assist cities and organisations in sourcing their fish from demonstrably sustainable wild caught sources.More than 200 million meals each year are now served by organisations that have adopted London 2012Õs sustainable food standards, including businesses, universities, schools, armed forces, government and tourist attractions, while the Organising CommitteeÕs food vision has also been adopted and built upon for the Olympic Games Rio 2016.The Rio 2016 Organising Committee is also following LondonÕs lead with the establishment of a carbon management programme to measure and reduce the carbon footprint created by staging the Games. The Committee is working with Worldwide Olympic Partner Dow to mitigate 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq) through third party-verified emissions reductions, while also committing to generate an additional 1.5 million tons of CO2 eq in climate benefits by 2026, as a long-term Games legacy.But cities do not have to wait until after they have staged the Games to enjoy benefits such as these. Vancouver, for example, was the first host city to set up a not-for-profit organisation during the candidature phase to develop community legacies both before and after it hosted the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The 2010 Legacies Now organisation aimed to use opportunities associated with the Games to create social change in communities throughout the host region of British Columbia, helping to deliver legacies in sport, healthy living, literacy, environment, accessibility and volunteerism which benefited more than 4,000 organisations in 400 communities.ÒLegacies Now 2010 was fabulous because it really leveraged a lot of existing activities, brought a lot of attention to them, and enabled them to enlarge their scope,Ó explains Lema”tre. ÒBy the time Vancouver had been elected [as the host city], they were already seeing results from what this organisation had been doing during the candidature phase and then they continued that work from there. It demonstrated that you donÕt have to wait until the end of the Games to get your return on investment Ð with good planning it can happen a lot earlier.ÓLema”tre says the IOC is keen to emphasise, however, that legacies AboveThe Olympiapark in Munich, which continues to serve as a social, cultural and sporting hubBelowBarcelonaÕs seafront was regenerated before the 1992 GamesÔLEGACY WON’T HAPPEN BY ITSELF. IT HAS TO BE PLANNED RIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING’MICHELLE LEMAëTRE, IOC HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY AND OLYMPIC LEGACY50 OLYMPIC REVIEW LEGACIES