“The Evolution of City of Drapetsona: the Pass of the Refugees' Settlement

Supervisors: Sofia Avgerinou-Kolonia Author: Kampouri Elina (41000704) Athens February 2005 “The evolution of city of Drapetsona: The pass of the refugees’ settlement, to the unindustrial period and today” Keywords: Refugees’ settlement, deindustrialisation, incompatible uses, unemployment, degraded environmental quality The city of Drapetsona is a suburb of Piraeus, with dominant use, the use of housing. It is an ex-industrial harbour area, which used to have the industry as a basic activity and today is characterized by intense social and economical problems. These are consequences of ceasing to have the characteristics of industry. 1. The city of Drapetsona. Sections in history of Drapetsona i. The industrial revolution in Greece. The area of Piraeus The economy of Greece, which depended on agriculture, is changing with many effects. The physiognomy of the agricultural population has begun to change since 1870. At the end of 18th century, agriculture expands, with the industrial revolution in west. In the beginning of 19th century, Piraeus appears to be a city with industry as the dominant service, with big units of production which occupy a huge percentage of population while in other countries is being limited. ii. The creation of Drapetsona city The harbour of Drapetsona is a part of Piraeus harbour. In 1901, the first big factory of fertilizers settled. In 1911, become the first industry with chemical products. The traditional agriculture was displaced. The first residents settled in the area. In 1922, about 20.000 Greek refugees settled in Drapetsona, after the war in Smirni, in Asia Minor. In 1928, the population of the town reached the 17.652 residents. In 1937, the erection of the block of flats started. After that, the city of Drapetsona separated in three suburbs: 1.Lipasmata, 2.Kastraki, 3.St. Dionisis 2. The port of Piraeus from the city of Drapetsona, in 1856. iii. The closing of the fertilizer’s industry At the end of 19th century the development of industry caused industrial activity into the city, near to the harbours. At the end of 20th century harbour stations were created far away from the historic harbours. The industry and navigation were removed. The crisis in industry in Greece was presented in the middle of the decade of 80s. In 1989 the factory ends its work and causes lots of problems as: The limitation of the “first bone” and “second bone” sector The raise of the value of houses The cutting off the industrial area The changes on the product and on the employment Economical and social problems Unemployment iv. The city and its formation: urban planning: views of today ¾ The framework of space The web of the city was created inwardly. The city’s borders are strict. Separation between private and public space. The public space is limited. The block of flats are classified in three categories: 1. continuous structure system, with ‘coefficient structure’ 2,6 2. block of flats for refugees with two floors 3. block of flats for refugees with more floors ¾ Change of population There is a diminution of population between the age of 40-50 years old, while we could see the increasing of population at the older ages and as a result we conclude that the population gets older. There is internal movement of population to the city, from other Greek cities and lower percentage from foreign countries. ¾ Productive system The framework of production is small industries, transportation and activities of storage. We discover “sucks” with industrial uses into residential area. ¾ Projects, solutions and interviews Conclusions The change in the production and economical reasons had led to the crisis of industry and as a result the closing of the factories. So, the deindustrialization created social and economical problems. The industrial development in the area organized the framework of the urban space, in a specific way. The public services are not functioning satisfyingly, so the city is a union which depends on the city of Piraeus. The city continues to have problems like unemployment and growth of incompatible uses. At the end, there is a need for environmental protection, repopulation of the area, traction of cultural and touristic activities and creation of new economical uses. .

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