Strategic planning and multidimensional legacies of the Asian Games: infrastructure development, athlete excellence, and regional cooperation in contemporary mega-events

This article examines how the Jakarta – Palembang 2018 Asian Games were strategically leveraged by Indonesia to generate multidimensional legacies for the host territory in the domains of infrastructure development, athlete excellence and regional cooperation. Drawing on the concept of event leveraging, the analysis moves beyond a narrow focus on post-event outcomes to emphasise the intentional strategies deployed by public authorities and sport organisations to maximise desired benefits (Chalip, 2006). While research on sport mega-events has extensively explored legacy formation, there remains limited understanding of how regional multi-sport events such as the Asian Games are used to produce interconnected material and immaterial transformations in Asian contexts. Addressing this gap, the article asks: how did Indonesia seek to leverage the 2018 Asian Games to generate infrastructure and urban legacies, to strengthen athlete development and sports science systems, and to consolidate its regional diplomatic position? The article combines a structured review of the literature on legacy and leveraging with a theory-driven case study of Jakarta – Palembang 2018, using official planning documents, policy reports and secondary academic sources. The findings show that infrastructure investments, athlete development initiatives and diplomatic strategies were deliberately designed and implemented as mutually reinforcing dimensions of a broader leveraging project. The article further argues that the interdependence of these three dimensions can be conceptualised as a virtuous circle, in which each domain reproduces and amplifies effects in the others. In doing so, it contributes to debates on legacy, leveraging and Asian sport events by theorising regional multi-sport competitions as strategic instruments of territorial development and international positioning rather than as isolated sporting occasions.