"The Impact of Wide Scale Sport Events on Local Development: An Assessment of the XXth Torino Olympics through the Sustainability Report"

The organization of the Olympic Games can have multiple impacts on a host city or region, as there can be physical, economic, environmental, social, cultural and political impacts. Although it is widely accepted that such mega-events may have a large impact on (and leave an important legacy to) the host city and region, the Olympic Games have not been part of the sustainability debate so far. Also, the contribution of the Games to long term urban and regional development strategies clearly deserves more attention. This paper examines the process and outcome of the sustainability reporting on the last Olympic Winter Games, held in Torino in February 2006, basing on the experience of Bocconi University as scientific partner in such process.