Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London is Europe's most important new landscape for a generation - a wonderful setting of restored rivers, waterways and wetlands, lawns and meadows.

Before the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Lower Lea Valley was described as ‘the largest remaining regeneration opportunity in inner London’. This forgotten, post-industrial landscape had poor housing, and was carved up by underused and polluted waterways, towering pylons, major roads, rail lines, and Europe’s largest fridge mountain. It was one of the UK’s most deprived areas with soaring unemployment and low skill levels.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is one of Europe’s most successful new parklands. After a few years, landscape has the beguiling effect of naturalising, as if it was always there. But before the Games, the Lower Lea Valley was polluted post-industrial wastelands.

The key design move was to identify the true landscape asset: the River Lea, then sluggish and polluted and sunk deep in a channel. The banks of the river were pulled right back to give it the heroic role it deserved, responding with flair to the scale of the Games architecture.

The newly riverine park anchored the sports venues for the Games and went on to establish the framework for new mixed neighbourhoods. The river continues to provide coherence in a place designed for change, and its sloping lawns throng with local families every weekend.

The creation of the Park was ambitious in myriad ways. Reuse of materials and carbon sequestration were at the heart of the design. It was the first time that new wildflower planting had been delivered on such a scale in the UK, setting ambitious targets for biodiversity gain that are only now making their way into design standards. Together with wetlands, species-rich grasslands and extensive curated gardens, many of the site’s ecological targets have been realised. Otters have been sighted and kingfishers are flourishing.

The real power of the Park however lies in its social purpose, to provide a place which is equitable and inclusive. It is the Park that draws people in, with public realm that welcomes everyone. The entire academic and social vision for UCL East is built upon the idea of a Fluid Zone, which is about transparency at ground level and encounter. Local people need to feel that the offer from places like the London College of Fashion and V&A East in East Bank is meant for them.

The Channelsea river, a designated main water course, was also filled in. By culverting beneath a sculpted landscape, a vast wetland bowl was created in the north park taking 5,000 homes out of flood risk and delivering huge biodiversity gains. In total, more than 45ha of new wildlife habitat was established, about half for the Games. As well as wetlands, there is a mosaic of ponds and swales, species-rich grasslands, the UK’s largest new wildflower meadow, and brownfield habitats, supporting kingfisher, water vole, bats, reptiles, swifts and sand martins.

Together, this makes for a wonderful public park, with a rich and varied ecological and social terrain that anchored the sports venues for the Games and established the framework for new mixed neighbourhoods, communities, and local economies – a new piece of city, and one of Europe’s most successful recent parklands. The complexity of this endeavour may not seem immediately apparent to visitors. Landscape has the beguiling effect of naturalising, as if the Park has always been there, grown from nature.

Andrew Harland and Neil Mattinson, Directors and joint project leads for the final Olympic Park landscape masterplan, LDA Design said:

“The Park has a boldness that you rarely see. That’s its secret. Landscape at this scale – any scale, really – is likely to miss the mark if it is not truly ambitious. You have to identify the power in the landscape. That will provide the single, strong, simple idea that will lead everything else. Here, it was the River Lea. Then you work to make sure it becomes both part of the everyday and also loved for being special.”