The 2005/6 students cohort chose to go to Athens to specifically explore the legacy of the 2004 Olympic Games. They spent a week there from April17
-
23. Yiannis Kaplanis (Lecturer on course in Research Methods) and Thanos Pagonis (RUPS student 1997/8 who has now completed a PhD in Athens) took a leading role in organizing contacts and events. Visits were made to the main Olympic sites and several lectures given by academics at the National Technical University of Athens. Other talks were given by government staff concerned with regeneration, planning consultants and developers. As one of the students reported ' we learnt so much from our speakers about the planning, politics, economics behind the Olympics and met some of the top government officials, academics, architect/planners and business people'. There were of course also plenty of social activities and relaxed evenings!
