East Attica housing set for major expansion

Population expected to crowd into Mesogeia and Saronic coast regions, increasing construction by up to 50 percent by 2010

By Pikia Galati - Kathimerini

Over the past three years, as Athens prepared to host the Olympic Games, less than 1 square meter of green space per inhabitant was added to the Attica landscape; meanwhile, housing development will grow by 5 to 30 percent within this decade, chiefly on the Mesogeia plain and along Attica’s southern coast. The population is expected to increase at similar rates, even by as much as 50 percent in Koropi, Lavrion and Keratea.

Yet the fate of areas that could provide needed green spaces (900 hectares at Elaiona, 400 hectares in Goudi, plus 370 hectares of army camps, 530 hectares at the old airport at Hellenikon, and 140 hectares at 15 inactive quarries, currently planned for redevelopment) is far from certain.

Studies by university and other experts collected by architect and town planner Stavros Tsetsis show the need to keep these areas free of construction.

Elaionas. This 900-hectare site in western Athens is not a priority for the authorities, since there is neither a plan for its future nor funds available for it. Despite the terms of a presidential decree 15 years ago, some 90 tanneries are still operating in the area, although they were supposed to be moved to an industrial park in Dafni, Viotia. The local prefecture has issued a decision rejecting the tanneries’ installation. The same applies to the foundries at Elaionas, the number of which is not clear. Nor is it clear how many have operating licenses. Their move to the Schistos industrial park should have taken place by the end of 2000, but the Municipality of Perama has opposed the move.

Then there are the cement factories, scheduled for transfer elsewhere by 2000. The move of the transport companies headquartered in Elaionas to the manufacturing park at Aspropyrgos never took place, as the town-planning studies were suddenly halted.

Apart from the Municipality of Rendi, which has fast been improving some 350 hectares of Elaionas within its own administrative boundaries, the Municipality of Athens recently decided to amend its town plan to allow for improvements to much of the 220 hectares within its own boundaries, including a 1.8-hectare increase in public green space to total 5 hectares, and the acquisition of a modern, 51,000-square meter building for cultural and recreational activities.

Of course, these piecemeal solutions come nowhere near the plans set out in the 1996 presidential decree that provided for 32 percent of the total area to be converted to green space.

A study on the area by Professor Louis Wassenhoven of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) observes that the municipalities have focused their attention on gaining land and revenue from inclusion in the town plan, while the Environment and Public Works and Economy ministries that should be ensuring the resettlement of the heavier industries in Elaionas “could not provide answers.” Wassenhoven cites the continuing presence of some 300 transport agencies operating illegally as a typical example of this inability to make decisions.

Army camps. The future of the 376.8 hectares of army camps in the Athens area is also unclear. Although officials have consistently promised to move them, the previous government decided to allow 30 percent of the total to be divided up into housing plots, while the current government ceded the area to the Worker Housing Organization.

Quarries. Over 60 inactive quarries are dotted around Attica. A program to restore 15 of these, a total of 140 hectares, began in 2001 for completion in 2004. However, only four have been finished, while in five others some trees have been planted.

Metropolitan parks. Plans for two metropolitan parks at Hellenikon and Goudi appear to have stalled over disagreements as to whether they should be used for green space and recreational use, according to designs by Wassenhoven (for the former) and Professor Yiannis Polyzos (for the latter) or for stadiums, conference centers, commercial and residential areas.

According to a study by Professor Costis Koutopoulos of the National Technical University and Associate Professor Giorgos Fotis of the University of Thessaly, coastal areas have seen steady population growth.

Eastern Attica has shown the greatest increase in both building and population growth, led by Nea Makri, where a building volume increase of 30 percent is forecast by 2010, followed by the municipalities of Marathon and Grammatikos, and all of the Mesogeia plain. Kalyvia, Koropi and Keratea are expected to see their populations increase by 50 percent by 2010, and Anavyssos, Nea Makri, Marathon and Grammatikos by 35 percent. The study forecasts major increases for all 60 municipalities in eastern Attica.

Building volume will increase by up to 20 percent and population by 20-40 percent everywhere in the prefecture of Athens, apart from the municipality of Athens itself.

Western Attica’s building density is believed to have reached saturation point, but not its population, expected to increase by over 40 percent in Megara.

In other European cities, many old industrial or military sites have been converted into parks in the most innovative ways. These are some of the examples collected by architect and landscaping expert Maria Gounaraki for the NTUA’s town-planning and zoning department.

- The Jardin Atlantique is situated on the 3.1-hectare roof of the Montparnasse station and serves as a passenger waiting area and a green space for residents of this famous Paris district. A central square is the focus of the site, with sunken theme gardens, a playground and tennis courts.

– The Parc Del Litoral in Barcelona was constructed for the 1992 Olympics in an industrial and port zone along the coast that was planted with trees, and scattered with sculptures and monuments.

– The Camley Street Natural Park is spread over 10 hectares of wild green space in the heart of London, and features a large pond and a children’s garden.

– The Kromhoutpark in the Netherlands is on a site once occupied by the army. Four themed routes lead from residential areas around the park to an island in the center of a lake.