Reclaiming the Greek P O L

RECLAIMING THE GREEK POLIS - THE CASE OF KAVALA 1 student: Alkmini Papaioannou 4411870 Graduation Studio: Urban Fabrics Reclaiming The Greek P2 report Polis 1st mentor: Luisa Maria Calabrese 2nd mentor: Fransisco Colombo - January 2016 The case of Kavala 2 3 CONTENTS: 1. Theoretical framework 4. Hypothesis 8. Conlusions 2. Problem statement 5. Project 9. Methodology 3. Kavala location 10. Graduation plan 6. Research question 11. Theory paper 7. Field trip 4 5 1a. Introduction / From the Greek Polis to the Aristotelian Ethos ic way of planning which was com- In Greek, the word Polis literally Justice is the foundation of the Pla- fortable for many, thus, no changes means city, but it can also mean tonic Polis. The main concept is that we ever occurred. However, during citizenship and body of citizens. everyone focuses on doing what he is the recent crisis, all problems, visible In modern historiography, polis is made to do. Socrates calls it “deal- MO- and invisible came to the surface and normally used to indicate the ancient ing with something familiar”. Thus, now almost every urban and plan- Greek city-states, like Classical Athens none is dealing with matters he is not ning project is dormant. It is true that and its contemporaries, and thus, it is aware of and everyone contributes almost every national problem has to often translated as city-state. A city- on appropriate level to the Common do with political corruption, and thus, state has to fulfill the following basic Good. I believe it is a great opportunity for characteristics: TIVA- Greece to start reconstructing a plan- - Independence The virtues above play a very im- ning system with more justice, respect - Autonomy portant role in Aristotelian Theory and efficiency. - Self-governance of Ethics. Aristotle believed that the moral virtues can be gained by Having lived among engineers my According to Plato, the 4 virtues of practicing and not by simply under- whole life, I have learned the ugly and polis are: standing them, like Socrates. He was TION unfair process of project making in - Wisdom supporting the combining opinion, modern Greece. I believe that reach- - Prowess on which moral virtues are a result of The following project is going to an- ing bottom is the great opportunity - Prudence nature and exercise. As nature always alyze, evaluate and propose solutions for a nation to start changing the - Justice give the opportunities and the experi- on the current planning sector in unhealthy culture of executing any enced judgment offers the virtue. Greece. It is going to use the city of kind of public projects driven only by The city is wise, because its lead- As stated above, in order to “rule” a Kavala as an example of intervention personal interest. ers are wise and lead it towards the city, the philosopher/king had to fulfill in order to experiment the outcomes Common Good. Wisdom appears certain standards. For Aristotle, he of a new suggestion of design and The intervention location is going to at the ability of right judgment of a should be able to lead and convince planning tools. be a new suburban area in my home- city, in the decision making, and this the citizens, for matters that concern town, Kavala, in North Greece, where I is shown through the behavior of the city, by using the three Modes of The problem of executing big public will be able to test and evaluate alter- its philosophers/kings. It is charac- Persuasion: Pathos, Logos and Ethos. projects in Greece is not new. There natives for public project production terized by prowess, as its guardians Pathos is relevant to the emotional has always been a certain problemat- in different scales. are brave and can defend its land, as influence of the leader on the citizens. well as its culture and education. It In order to persuade them he needs has prudence, because there is peace to put them in the appropriate emo- between all the social classes. Pru- tional state. Since speech is the most dence is a kind of self-discipline and affective form of convincing some- loyalty. Finally, it is fair, because every one, Logos is a very important mode political and social element is created of persuasion. to fulfill a specific purpose, as well as to help and guide the rest. 6 7 [In 1832-1833, Athens was decided to be- It was known that the technical and eco- come the new capital of Greece, although nomical sources were very limited back Last but not least, Ethos describes the personal character of someone. The main intention is it was quite a small city at the time. But then, but the constant changes in the credibility, for which someone needs competence, good intention and empathy. These three el- its ideological importance gave an end location of the public buildings and the to a political uncertainty. At the same size of the excavation space, which grad- ements are vital not only for a leader, but also for any citizen, in order to “deal with the familiar” time, a new master plan by Kleanthes ually reduced to zero, were the outcome and achieve a sufficient result. and Schaubert was approved for the city of private interests from the landowners, of Athens, very innovating for its time, who were claiming economical benefits. In All the above can describe an ideal situation… a utopia. Is there a place in the world, where focusing basically on the open public these economical interests we can add the everything is set fair and wise? The questions actually here should be: “How utopian does Ethos spaces. This ambitious plan was propos- political parties and the non-functioning seem? - How should a city work, in order to achieve the closest possible situation to the polis? ing a new city fabric on the North of the relation of the City-State, which finally led As we are analyzing a utopian theory, developed in the Greek context, we should consider how archeological area, but very close to it. to the total transformation of the plan, the Greek system reached the situation it is now and explore its history, in terms of planning and The Acropolis and the Palaces were given apart from the basic organizing of the decision making. a monumental position on the new grid, “axons” and the historical triangle in the creating an “axon” from the South to the center’s grid. After this plan, others were North. There were two new centers, on made to improve the original one, but the East, the spiritual center (Metropolitan none was completed. All this period was church, Library and the Academy, but no stigmatized by the constant conversions University) and on the West, the govern- of the plans, their technical and political mental facilities, including the Parliament. difficulties and the changes of the man- On the South part of the “axon” there was agement sources, from Greeks, to foreign- a space left for excavations. This part is ers, technicians and architects. A char- 1b. The Greek Spatial very interesting, as it was never used for acteristic example is the fact that simple excavations and it was (and still is) urban- projects of street openings were stopped ized with residences that even “climb” the because of dysfunctions on economical ancient hill of Acropolis, creating the area and political level, as well as because of Planning through time “Anafiotika”. demonstrations of landowners.] and the loss of Ethos The Greek planning system is very centralized. There has been a long way of modifying and proposing policies and laws in order to make it sufficient, but not everything has been working properly as planned in the process. Greece is a considered a young country. It was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1821 and it has been an independent state since 1827. During its first period, it developed the Royal Degree of 03-04-1835 “Concerning the health constructing of cities and towns”, which set the foundations of the Greek planning legislation. The main objective of this degree was to ensure the basic needs of all urban constructions, focusing on public health. It concerned the buildings individually and not the city as a whole. At that time, several city plans were designed, for Patras, Pylos, Athens, Nafplion etc, but they were not based on any legislation, but mainly expressing planning policies set by the local authorities, because, at that time, all city mayors had an important role. Thus, the master plans were not very successful, as they were constantly changing, according to the will and power of the local authorities. Some of them, such as the master plan “Master plan for Athens, by Kleanthes & Schaubert” of Athens by Kleanthes and Schaubert, were never accomplished. sourse: http://www.eie.gr/archaeologia/gr/layout/images/09/zoom/LEO06.jpg 8 9 “On the South part of the “axon” there was a space left for excavations. This part is very interesting, as it was never used for excavations and it was (and still is) urbanized with residences that even “climb” the ancient hill of Acropolis, creating the area “Anafiotika”.” 10 11 During this period, there was a tran- of combining planning policy and sition from the policies on the local planning law. This was one of the few level, with no common policies, to times that Greek State accepted shar- a more centralized system, in order ing responsibility of an effort. to escape from all the affects from the Ottoman Empire’s decentral- [At that time, Greece had a population ized system. City mayors, during the of 5.000.000 people and had to absorb Ottoman occupation, were powerful 1.220.000 refugees.

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