Mega-events like the Olympic Games present both opportunities and challenges for sustainable urban development. This study addresses a critical knowledge gap: how can temporary Olympic Villages transition into permanent, inclusive urban communities that deliver lasting social, economic, and environmental benefits. Drawing on grounded theory and cross-case analysis of six Olympic events, we establish a three-tier P-R-L model (Physical-Relational-Legacy) that explains sustainable community structure evolution. The Physical layer operationalizes resilient space design through adaptive infrastructure; the Relational layer institutionalizes equitable governance through stakeholder integration; the Legacy layer consolidates inclusive urban dividends beyond traditional metrics. Our findings demonstrate how these dimensions reinforce mutually to support sustainable community transitions, offering a replicable framework for mega-event planning aligned with SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). The research contributes actionable guidance for policymakers, urban planners, and event organizers seeking to maximize positive sustainability outcomes.

The Olympic Village has evolved over time to become a full-fledged urban system that encompasses not just the temporary housing needs of athletes participating in the Olympic Games but also infrastructure development, governance coordination, sustainability planning, and long-term community transformation. Although there are many studies of Olympic Villages, they typically focus on a single aspect of them such as the physical redevelopment of an area, the way that it was governed during the Olympics, and what happened to the Village after the Games ended. Existing studies have examined various dimensions separately, but fewer studies integrate these dimensions into a unified lifecycle framework. To fill this gap, this study proposed the Physical-Relational-Legacy (P-R-L) framework to help explain the changes in form that occur in Olympic Villages over their lifecycle. Using a Straussian grounded theory approach and comparative case study methodology, the study investigated six Olympic events: the Summer Olympics of 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024, and the Winter Olympics of 2022. The data collected for this study included official Olympic reports, operational manuals, planning documents, and other types of published materials related to legacy. Using systematic open, axial, and selective coding supported by constant comparison, the study inductively developed the three interrelated dimensions: Physical, Relational, and Legacy. The results of this study indicated that the transformation of an Olympic Village is not simply a matter of developing some areas after the games end. Rather, it involves a series of interactions between changing infrastructure systems, governance mechanisms, and ongoing legacy development processes. Moreover, each of these dimensions interacts with one another at all stages of an Olympic Village’s lifecycle instead of occurring sequentially. The study contributes by providing an integrated analytical framework explaining how physical adaptation, governance coordination, and legacy formation interact throughout the Olympic Village lifecycle.