As Brisbane prepares to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the real opportunity goes well beyond sport. The Olympics offer a once-in-a-generation chance to reshape the city, not just physically, but culturally and socially, writes Andrew Hoyne.

This is city shaping and placemaking on steroids. Not the banned kind, but the stuff that cuts red tape and takes action. So, the question is not just how Brisbane can deliver the Games, but how it can design places that leave a meaningful legacy for generations.

Brisbane can avoid the trap of short-termism and use design as a strategic tool to create an inclusive, beautiful, culturally rich, and economically resilient city. 

Designing for the future, not just building fast

A design-forward approach means thinking beyond stadiums and event deadlines. It’s about creating urban environments that reflect Brisbane’s identity and serve its people long after the closing ceremony. The Games are not an end in themselves, but an excuse to invest.

This means leveraging the city’s subtropical climate, strong Indigenous heritage, and developing even more cultural hotspots like South Bank, Fish Lane, and James Street.

The Brisbane River is a flanked on all sides by vibrant fauna and sleek urban architecture

Brisbane is already a city of creative momentum, with public and private sector-led placemaking setting national benchmarks. Howard Smith Wharves illustrates how to move beyond infrastructure delivery to a deeper vision. It is not just a mixed-use precinct, it’s a civic destination built on heritage, identity, and the activation of underutilised space for cultural and community value.

This model of purposeful, place-led planning is exactly what Brisbane needs now on a broader scale.

A legacy beyond the closing ceremony

The distinction between a world-class Olympic city and a forgettable one lies in what happens after the Games. Infrastructure without vision becomes a liability. Just look at abandoned stadiums in Athens or Rio. Cities that succeed, like London and Sydney, used the Olympics to unlock long-term regeneration. Of course, even they weren’t without faults.

Brisbane must learn from this. The Games should accelerate plans already in motion for urban renewal, unlocking underutilised areas for mixed-use development, housing and public life. The work we’ve done on Northshore with EDQ has been slow to come to fruition, and while Eat Street is a success story, now is the time these precincts should finally be able to come to life seven days a week, with housing, green space and more public transport solutions. 

Brisbane’s distinctive advantage

Year-round sunshine makes Brisbane a hotspot destination for Aussie holidaymakers

What makes Brisbane uniquely placed to succeed is its demonstrated ability to do placemaking well. Fish Lane, for instance, exemplifies how the arts and community voice shape the DNA of a place. Aria Property worked hard for years to ensure their vision took this laneway beyond its history of bins and parked cars, to become a thriving cultural hotspot filled with food, events, art and nightlife; something deeply local yet commercially vibrant.

Brisbane’s strengths also lie in smaller-scale projects that set new standards. James Street’s retail mix, Howard Smith Wharves’ riverfront activation, and cultural institutions like Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) all reflect a city that knows how to balance culture and commerce. The 2032 Olympics must scale this thinking without losing the intimacy or identity that makes Brisbane special.

Avoiding the pitfalls of short-termism

The Olympic deadline brings pressure, but rushing through decisions risks creating white elephants. Montreal’s 1976 stadium, the ‘Big Owe’, remains a cautionary tale of design overreach and poor planning. Instead, Brisbane must prioritise integration: housing, transport, public spaces and health infrastructure must all work together, especially when converting athletes’ villages into long-term housing.

South Bank proves that success isn’t measured by grand gestures, but everyday usability. It’s about putting local people first. I remember South Bank’s chief executive officer Bill Delves saying that the plan was to make South Bank a place for locals, and if that’s where the locals were, then that’s where the tourists would want to go. That logic remains sound (and successful) today. 

Striking the cultural and commercial balance

Brisbane joins an Australian legacy of hosting the Olympics, beginning with Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in the year 2000

I believe the most successful precincts strike a deliberate balance between cultural meaning and economic sustainability. Projects like QAGOMA demonstrate how place-led visioning can seamlessly integrate art, education and Indigenous storytelling into the urban fabric.

These are spaces that invite both locals and visitors to engage deeply — not just as consumers, but as participants in shared cultural experiences. They generate economic uplift while remaining inclusive, intergenerational gathering places where people aged eight to 80 can connect with something larger than themselves.

Three non-negotiables for Olympic placemaking

If I were briefing the Olympic planning committee today, I’d want these three priorities to be locked in:

• Place-led visioning. Begin every major precinct with a people-first vision, not just architectural drawings.
  
• Experience and equity mapping. Understand where gaps exist across the city. Design for those not currently served.
  
• Long-term activation. Budget and plan for precinct life 10+ years post-Games, across cultural, economic, and community dimensions. 

Imagining Brisbane in 2042

Imagine Brisbane in 2042: A city of vibrant, connected, character-filled precincts. A place where people speak with pride about how the Olympics helped stitch their city together, physically and emotionally. A Brisbane that is creative, confident, experiential, inclusive and green.

This is the real opportunity: not just to host a successful Games, but to redefine how cities design legacy through place. With the right design-forward thinking, Brisbane can emerge not just as a host city, but as a global model for post-Olympic placemaking.

Andrew Hoyne. Photo: Supplied

Andrew Hoyne is the founding principal of Hoyne – a global company advising on place visioning, place branding and property marketing for destinations of extraordinary value. He was one of 22 keynote speakers at The Design Conference (18–20 June).

Related: Woods Bagot architect and senior associate Matt Reynolds on ‘white elephants’, and why we need hyper-flexible, infinitely purposed major venues.