The use of sporting and other mega-events to bring about transformation of socially deprived areas of major cities is becoming an increasingly important part of the raison d'être for hosting such events, especially given the immense costs involved and the current economic climate. The tax-paying public are increasingly having to be persuaded of the benefits, beyond the event itself, to spend the nations resources in this way. London 2012 sold its bid partly on the basis of the potential regenerate one of the most deprived areas of East London made up of the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest & Greenwich, collectively known as the five host Olympic Boroughs. This work proposes to evaluate some of the social legacy programmes of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games within the 5 London host Boroughs and to assess their transferability to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games with particular reference to the city's favelas. In order to do this it will be necessary to: 1) evaluate the findings of similar programmes at previous Olympic and Paralympic Games; 2) to compare key statistical and other indicators before and after the Games including crime and employment rates, sports participation and perceptions of disability; 3) to compare official government and organising committee findings regarding these programmes with the actual lived experiences of the residents within the 5 host Boroughs; 4) to compare the issues faced by the residents of the 5 host Boroughs before and after the London 2012 Games with those in the favelas of Rio to assess the relevance & transferability of the legacy programmes under evaluation. This research will afford a greater understanding of the impact of local conditions upon the success or otherwise of social legacy programmes connected to sporting & other mega-events and assess whether such programmes are location specific or can be transferred to other cities around the world facing similar issues