What is next for the Milano–Cortina 2026 Olympic Villages and what lessons can developers learn from a century of post‑games transformations
With the Milano–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics concluded, attention has shifted from the competitions to the built legacy left behind, particularly the Olympic villages dispersed across Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livigno, Bormio, Predazzo, and Anterselva. The strategic question now facing the host authorities, designers and investors is familiar yet pressing: what comes next? And more importantly for developers, what lessons can be drawn from previous Olympic villages around the world?
A distributed village model designed for reuse
Milano–Cortina 2026 represents one of the most geographically wide‑ranging Winter Olympic layouts ever delivered, with over 90% of competition venues previously existing or temporary in nature and six Olympic villages built primarily through renovation or adaptive reuse.
The flagship Milan Olympic Village at Porta Romana is already planned for conversion into Italy’s largest publicly supported student housing community, providing 1,700 beds (with 30% at subsidised rates) within months of the games’ conclusion. This rapid transition is possible because the village was designed from the outset for dual functionality, with flexible ground floor spaces, restored historic buildings, and student‑oriented communal areas.
The other Olympic villages, particularly in mountain regions such as Anterselva, rely on clusters of existing hotels, an approach that minimises new construction and supports continued tourism‑oriented use. This distributed, low‑impact model reflected the International Olympic Committee’s emphasis on sustainability, circular economy principles, and avoiding “white‑elephant” infrastructure.
Comparing with past Olympic village transformations
History offers both cautionary tales and success stories. Cities like Munich (1972) and Beijing (2008) successfully converted their Olympic villages into vibrant residential districts, student housing, and mixed‑use communities. Munich’s athletes apartments and bungalows now provide accommodation for more than 6,000 permanent residents and 2,000 students, while Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Village now houses more than 60,000 residents with strong transport connections. London’s 2012 East Village also remains a leading model comprising a ‘planned from the start’ mixed use neighbourhood incorporating affordable housing, schools and parkland.
Conversely, Sochi (2014) and Athens (2004) illustrate the risks of inflexible design and insufficient post‑games planning, leaving behind ghost towns with underused or deteriorating facilities.
The Milano–Cortina strategy aligns more closely with the success stories, prioritising legacy from the outset, embedding villages into existing urban districts and emphasising modularity, adaptability and long‑term community integration.
Key takeaways for developers
- Design with the “second life” as the primary brief. The Milan Porta Romana Village exemplifies this approach. Its ownership and design teams prioritised long‑term student housing use rather than temporary Olympic needs.
- Use distributed or existing infrastructure wherever possible. Milano–Cortina’s six village model reduced capital expenditure and environmental impact, demonstrating a scalable template for future large-scale events.
- Embrace adaptive reuse and modularity. Flexible spaces, modular structures, and reversible design proved critical in Paris (2024) and earlier games, supporting efficient post‑event conversions.
- Integrate villages into wider urban‑renewal strategies. The Milan redevelopment sits within a broader transformation of former railway yards into green, mixed‑use districts, ensuring long‑term value for both the city and investors.
Conclusion
The Milano–Cortina 2026 Olympic Villages offer a compelling case study in sustainable legacy planning. A case study that reflects a century of evolution in Olympic settlement design. For developers, the clear message is that success depends on forward‑looking, flexible, community‑centred design frameworks that treat the event itself as only the first phase of a much longer lifecycle.
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Clarke Willmott has offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.
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