When will Athens be nice?
View of Athens from Theater Square (above). From Akadimias Street to Lykavittos (middle left). Views from Syntagma Square towards the University (bottom left) and Vasilissis Sofias (right). [ΝΙΚΟΣ ΒΑΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ]
From the height of Syntagma Square, the beginning of the University and the beginning of Vasilissa Sophia show us the great problem of of Athens. The blind partition walls that are once erected around listed buildings that will remain there forever.
Even at such a central point, right in the heart of the capital, Athens reveals the deep problem of its urban structure and the absence of any aesthetic parameter, harmony and dialogue between the buildings, the free spaces and the life that it effortlessly discovers.
The aesthetic misspelling in specific places, visible from everywhere, has existed for about 60-65 years. It seems that the phenomenon does not bother. It is considered natural, endemic to the city’s culture.
One of the issues that was a real boon for Athens was the surgical intervention in its dense part. Apart from the major and necessary ones, such as the new museums, the infrastructure projects, the restoration of monuments, etc., the effort to improve the overall image of the Greek capital is equally important.
It is a national issue. A political issue. An issue that is both complex and timeless. If one sees photos of Athens from the beginning of the 20th century, when the natural fabric had thickened, one will find that already from 1910-1920 the city had taken the wrong path. Small building blocks without free spaces and also without architectural landmarks, such as an imposing building, a large dome, a tower-like culmination. The interwar generation was already talking about a suffocating situation.
Athens was built from the start based on the culture of small ownership, which took off after 1955-1960. But the foundation was already laid in the 19th century, when the city was still small (and anarchic, spontaneous, unruly, ephemeral, awkward, introverted). The neoclassical appearance of Athens in 1900 and the inherited nostalgia for the lost city do not hide the inherent problem.
The international trend of cities calls for new aesthetics and new thinking around innovation and historical self-awareness.
Priorities
Many decades have passed since Athens’ ‘problem’, defined around dense vehicular traffic, minimal built-up areas and air pollution, was popular press coverage, especially after 1974. But the function (and functionality ). ) of the city is not only considered in these (important) issues. The debate about the future of cities has for years incorporated the need for a fundamental re-evaluation of the building stock on the one hand and the dialectical relationship with nature on the other. Unfortunately, in both these directions the Greek capital scores below the base.
The other day I was observing the surroundings of Hadrian’s Library, the Roman Agora, the Aeris, with the modern city as a background. Likewise in Pnyka, Filopappou, the Ancient Agora or Kerameiko. But also in other, many places in the center of Athens, in clean, metropolitan environments, with an echo of commercial, intellectual, touristic activity, the capital seems surrendered to the culture of the ugliness of tumors, unmaintained facades and unkempt public lands. , and mainly institutions, in public view).
But Athens does not deserve this situation. Although there is now a greater percentage of citizens who care about the city, the positive standards, the public discourse, the political will are absent. The view of Athens from Lycabettus, for example, summarizes the long-term progress of Greek society and the quality of political leadership over decades. The city summarizes, symbolizes, reproduces and reflects a culture, public and private, a culture uneven with conflicting hierarchies. Athens’ passage through time catalyzes the myth of the beautified city of the past. The city may lose the historic center and the unique atmosphere of the districts, but it has improved the living conditions despite the failures and the encroachment of a leveling perception.
The trends of the time
Things have certainly changed. The city (and especially its inhabitants) has nothing to do with 1970, 1990, 2010. The international environment has changed. Athens must show reflexes. And the opposite changes for the better must be something higher, more complex and certainly more ambitious than renovations of old buildings, renovations of offices or development of catering. The city must be synchronized with the international sustainability agenda, which includes aesthetics. The aesthetic upgrading of Athens must be a political priority and must also be an invitation to the new generation of architects. Motivation, standards, vision.
The new direction of urban centers works both in favor of innovation and in favor of historical physiognomy. If we consider the natural environment of Athens, we will find that it lags behind in both of these directions. Deviation from the international scene is indistinguishable from tourist traffic. The Greek capital must articulate a new self-confidence and convince that it has the will, human resources and capital of ideas.