Exploring the (Un)sustainability of Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028

This chapter deals with the sustainability assessment of the Paris and Los Angeles Games. The economic, social, and political risks inherent in hosting the Olympics are well documented. The literature features a litany of problems for host cities and societies: exorbitant costs and broken budgets, ambitious urban redevelopment agendas that harm cities, socio-spatial exclusion that further marginalizes the already-vulnerable, and lasting damage to the natural environment. To manage the decline of bidders, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) engaged in organizational reforms. The chapter shows that one of the main aims of the reforms is to improve alignment between the Games and the city’s existing development trajectory and needs. By better adapting the Games to the host city, the IOC hopes to interrupt the trend of damage, decline, and bad publicity, and thereby reawaken global interest in hosting the Olympics. Through these reforms, we hypothesize that the IOC is attempting to express a commitment to long-term planning in line with the needs of the host city. While significant progress has been made, more remains to be done if the Games are to be legitimately sustainable for all.