Much journalistic and even social scientific writing on mega-events like Expos and Olympics is concerned with definitively characterising particular cases in relation to sectoral (e.g. economic) aspects and in terms of relatively short-term impacts. Mega-events have long been recognised as often leaving in their host cities significant and sometimes spectacular material legacies, including new functional public facilities (for instance museums or sport stadia), transport infrastructures and iconic architecture. It is less commonly recognised that they have also often promoted a very different and comparatively unspectacular kind of element in the central cityscapes of their host cities, namely major parks and the public spheres and services they typically provide.