Future plans for London's 2012 Olympic Park have been unveiled, and James Corner-the landscape architect behind the famous suspension park High Line in New York-will be taking his talents across the pond to turn the park's south plaza into 222 thousand square meters of "active spaces", reported The Inhabitat. Due to be completed by spring of 2014, the redesigned park will include areas for public performances, picnics and even rock-climbing within the vast urban green space. The redesigned Olympic Park will include a 12-metre wide tree-lined promenade that will open up to a series of outdoor "rooms", separated by tall grasses. These active spaces will host a classic carousel, an amphitheater and a play space with a climbing wall. There will also be spaces reserved for picnics, concerts and other events. The design also includes the addition of variety of trees and plants native to the local area, with planting and horticulture by Piet Oudolf , who also lent his design talents to The Highline. We think London is pretty lucky to be receiving such talent! So for those of us who didn't make it to the Olympic Games this year-no worries-here is a reason to plan a visit to the park grounds for future years to come.

After six years of planning, preparation and construction, London's Olympic Park hosts its first non-athlete visitors. The US$ 11 billion Olympic Park contains several of the 2012 Games biggest sporting venues, including the Olympic Stadium and the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre, as well as the Olympic Village. In addition to the Aquatics Centre, the Olympic Park also includes the Wilkinson Eyre Architects-designed Basketball Arena, a large 12 thousand-seat temporary structure that will be taken apart and recycled once the games have ended. And towering over the Olympic Park is Anish Kapoor's controversial ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower, which is made from recycled steel and has received mixed reviews from observers. Today the Opening Ceremony will mark the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and visitors will get their first look at the Olympic Park. Hosting the Olympics is a massive undertaking for the host city. In 2006, London demolished more than 200 buildings to make room for what would eventually become the Olympic Park. When those buildings were demolished, an impressive 98 percent of the materials were reused and recycled in the construction of the Olympic Park and elsewhere. The Olympic Park was built on former industrial brown fields, which cleaned up before the games. About 1.4 million cubic meters of contaminated soil was excavated from the site, and five enormous soil washing machines were brought in to wash the soil and filter out oil, tar and heavy metals. After the 2012 Summer Olympics are over, the Olympic Park will again be transformed. In 2013, the roughly 500 thousand square meters Park in East London will reopen as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The 114.5-meters tall ArcelorMittal Orbit will still tower over the park, and the Olympic stadium will be downsized to a permanent stadium that will seat 25 thousand people.

It was only a few years ago when Beijing proudly unveiled National Stadium, also known as "The Bird's Nest" an architecture marvel and centerpiece for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, just four years after the venue was built, Reuters photographer David Gray captured a series of disheartening images revealing to the world an unused and neglected facility. While on site, Gray also discovered that several other Olympic buildings, including the rowing, beach volleyball and cycling facilities, all built new, were rusting and beginning to fall apart. According to NPR reports, Ai Weiwei, the highly praised artist who consulted on the design of "The Bird's Nest" felt the structure has become propagandized and failed to be integrated into the life of the city. For this reason, the artists had refused to go inside the stadium. With limited use since the 2008 Games, the estimated US$ 10 million to maintain the structure is unavailable, leaving the once thriving building vulnerable to decay. In an effort to avoid the "chronic Olympic legacy" and financial burden, 2012 London Olympic organizers are taking a closure look at sustainability - hoping to extend the shelf life of these expensive and unique venues. According to the International Herald Tribune, as there was no need for permanent facilities - many of the London 2012 host buildings were designed as "temporary venues" that can be recycled or dismantled. The 12 thousand-seat basketball court might be "the most temporary grand building in Olympic History". Event organizers are confident the entire structure including court, infrastructure, changing rooms and all 12 thousand reusable spectator stands can be easily deconstructed. The 55 thousand-seat Olympic stadium is built using one third the amount of steel used to construct the Bird's Nest and the roof will be completely dismantled following the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A report by World Wildlife Fund and BioRegional, an independent trust that advocated sustainability, released just last week found that these Olympic Games met their green goals. Inevitably, the 600 thousand additional visitors to Games will put a strain on the urban area in areas of transportation, fuel use and pollution - but recent efforts to maintain sustainable structures may set a new bar for future Olympic host cities.