Metro and urban form ιn Thessaloniki: characteristics, planning ideas for their interconnection and critical obstacles

Abstract

An integrated transport management for the efficient use of critical and highly expensive infrastructure and a shift to public and alternative transport modes are recognized today among the most crucial policies for achieving sustainable spatial development. The purpose of this article is to relate the urban form of the city of Thessaloniki with the metro under construction in an attempt to read their spatial interconnection, to highlight the potential for connecting transport and urban planning through specific planning and design schemes and to identify the key obstacles raised in implementing such policies. It is argued that, despite the observed high rates of suburbanization and the dispersal of urban activities in the urban periphery over the last twenty years, the compact part of the city of Thessaloniki, which is crossed and served by the metro, still holds a large share of population and urban activities and is dominated by mixed land uses, advantages that should be used with specific planning proposals and initiatives. Moreover, it is argued that the most critical obstacle to the promotion of these policies is the absolute focus on the process rather than the outcome that characterizes the Greek planning system.