Editorial Note by the Immediate Past Editor-in-Chief of Transactions of AESOP

Abstract

This special issue, under the editorship of Marco Cremaschi, has emerged and evolved across a transition period for the editorship of Transactions of AESOP. When the proposal for the issue was accepted following the AESOP Congress held in Paris in July 2024, culminating a mere fourteen days before the start of the Summer Olympics on July 26, Marco became its Guest Editor. Today, as this significant contribution to the state of knowledge and debate on mega-events as urban game changers is published, Marco is the Editor in Chief of the Journal, following his appointment to the role by the AESOP Council of Representatives in 2025. As the outgoing Editor in Chief, I would like to extend thanks to Marco and all the authors and reviewers who have contributed to this issue. I would also like to thank all those who have contributed to the journal in different ways since 2019 during my tenure as Editor in Chief. In a historical conjuncture where many questions are being asked about the sustainability and ethics of financialised and often predatory academic publishing models, and internationalism is under pressure from many quarters, Transactions epitomises the AESOP ethos in providing an open-access and inclusive space for the international planning community to share research, innovative practices, and constructive provocations. As the journal looks towards its tenth anniversary in 2027, this mission is in safe hands under the new Editorship.