Four days after the fatal shooting of a man in its Tottenham neighborhood, London is still burning. As firefighters douse the flames of buildings set ablaze from gasoline bombs, the riots responsible for much of the destruction are spreading to other parts of the country. In London, even areas that haven’t been affected by rioting and violence are under a self-imposed curfew that sees stores shuttering early and normally busy streets emptied after sunset.

Four days after the initial incident that sparked the unrest, there still appears to be no definitive end to the organized violence. Some blame BlackBerry BBMs and Twitter for facilitating the organization of riots and looting, but regardless of the communication tools used to communicate, London faces a bigger problem: police can’t figure out how to quell outbursts of violence and stop them from spreading. That doesn’t lend a lot of confidence to the city’s ability to ensure safety for the 2012 Olympics.

The athlete’s village and stadiums for the 2012 Olympics will come with a $15 billion price tag. Officials have said that athlete accommodations will become community housing after the games are over, leaving the city with a net benefit. The destroyed areas of London are just a few miles away from this area. {NY Times}

Much of the destruction has been caused by groups of a few hundred people or so. At one point it was reported that 1700 police officers were on duty, compared to 5000 for the Royal Wedding. {Gawker} Granted, the Royal Wedding was a planned event, but what happens if an unexpected event occurs during the Olympic games?

Will there be a plan in place to handle simultaneous civil protests, terrorist threats and general crowd related security at the same time? Part of the current problem lies with austerity budget cuts that haven’t seen police jobs spared. There are plans to cut 9,000 of 35,000 police jobs, and emergency responders like firefighters and paramedics face staff cuts as well. When the police are busy protecting firefighters trying to extinguish fires, riots spring up in other areas where there is no police presence.

While the city surely has some sort of plan for dealing with the security challenges that come with a major public event, the lack of a tenable plan for keeping unplanned criminal behavior under control with less than 12 months til the Olympic games begin has to be of concern to residents and visitors alike.

Before and after image of  the Allied Carpets store building via the Guardian

London's planned Olympic village

But after the long-term failure of the Millenium dome, the Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Development Agency are working to produce venues that can be reused in some way after the games have ended. The result is the “legacy” idea, in which constructed venues are altered after the games to provide venues usable by the public. In addition, the Olympic Legacy will provide infrastructure development to the largely underdeveloped London region of Stratford City.

The construction and other projects for the 2012 London Olympic Games are such an undertaking that london2012.com was created to provide information about the games, venues and progress of construction. Despite a $39 million budget cut announced Monday, many projects have already come in under budget, saving a total of $870 million. {USA Today} The entire project is currently budgeted at $13.5 billion.

The two major construction projects in Stratford City are the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village. Olympic Park will become the largest European urban park in the past 150 years and will feature both a “festival” area in the south and a more natural, wildlife friendly area to the north. With a projected 2,000 trees of nearly a dozen species, the park will also feature various wetlands and gardens. The park will bring greenery and nature back to an area that was previously suffering.

Meanwhile, the Olympic Village is being built to house 17,000 athletes and Olympic officials. Shops, restaurants, medical and leisure areas are included in the construction, providing communal areas for athletes and others to interact with one another. After the games, the Village will be converted into 2,800 homes, 1,379 of which have been tagged as “affordable” housing. To encourage Londoners to consider Village homes, the newly approved Chobham Academy, yet to be built, will open in 2013. With space for 1,800 pupils, the school will provide education for students aged 3 to 19.

Additional improvements to the Stratford Regional Station will provide more access to Stratford City via Tube lines, as well as easier access from street level via elevators. Combined with the new facilities in Stratford City, the London Development Agency hopes that Stratford City will become a desirable place to live and provide more housing in an already full city.