Towards a climate-positive Olympics: evolving approaches to staging the games

Pack, Valeska Emmeline, Davis, Juliet ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2056-5792 and Gonsalves, Kavita 2025. Towards a climate-positive Olympics: evolving approaches to staging the games. Garcia-Hansen, Veronica, Cushing, Debra F., Caldwell, Glenda A. and Foth, Marcus, eds. Human-Building Interaction: The Nexus of Architecture, Building Science and Interaction Design, Adaptive Environments, [Human-Building Interaction: The Nexus of Architecture, Building Science and Interaction Design]. Switzerland: Springer,

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

This chapter explores the potential of Olympic sports buildings to be climate-positive by documenting evolving approaches to staging the Olympic Games, assisted by the emergence of technologies exploring Human-Building Interaction (HBI) potential. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have pledged to halve emissions by 2030, aligning with the Paris Agreement. The organisers of future Olympics are aiming to deliver climate-positive Games which emphasise reducing carbon followed by offsetting beyond residual emissions. The meaning of ‘climate-positive’ is explored through a review of literature focussed on decarbonising Olympic venues and how HBI is being leveraged to enhance this model. The research shows how a new low carbon, circular economy-focused model is emerging to meet the IOC’s mandates and where HBI is being used to accelerate towards net zero. The chapter follows to discuss challenges confronted in practice with this prototype, drawing from in-depth interviews with leading Olympic venue designers. Findings reveal the changing interplay between users and buildings within the emerging Olympic model. Conclusions offer possible new decarbonisation concepts arising in response to the IOC’s climate-positive mandate and identify several gaps in research. The importance of this unique study is demonstrated through the exploration of low carbon design for Olympic stadia catalysed using HBI analytics.

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Architecture ?? SuDoBE ??
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	carbon, climate-positive, human-building interaction, Olympics, stadium design
Publisher:	Springer
Funders:	This research was funded by Populous Architects.
Date of Acceptance:	22 October 2025
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2025 11:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181990

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item