Metropolitan planning in Greece: the case of Athens

Abstract

The need for metropolitan planning developed in Athens after the arrival of the refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s, when the bipolar system of Athens and Piraeus became a conurbation. Since then, many efforts to introduce metropolitan planning took place, without success. The most ambitious, in the late 1970s, under Minister Stefanos Manos and Prime Minister K. Karamanlis, was abandoned afterwards. As a result, Athens is facing today a disastrous situation. However Athens is again at crossroads as the environment of the Greek Capital is changing rapidly. The European and the global scales are in competition with the -predominant until now- national scale. At the same time, the Athens metropolitan area is escaping from the limits of the plain of Athens. A new environment of dangers and opportunities for Athens is arising. The perspective of a generalised urban crisis to a wider area coexists with the possibility to reorganise the metropolitan area in a more rational way. The critical element will be again the presence or absence of metropolitan planning. For the time being, there are very few signs that the necessary forces for this are or will be present.