Issue 4, Volume 3, 2009 178 Urban renaissance on Athens southern coast: the case of Palaio Faliro Stefanos Gerasimou, Anastássios Perdicoúlis Abstract— The city of Palaio Faliro is a suburb of Athens, around 9 II. HISTORIC BACKGROUND km from the city centre of the Greek capital, located on the southern The city of Palaio Faliro is located on the southern coast of coast of the Athens Riviera with a population of nearly 65.000 inhabitants. The municipality of Palaio Faliro has recently achieved a the Region of Attica, on the eastern part of the Faliro Delta, regeneration of its urban profile and dynamics, which extends on an around 9 km from Athens city centre, 13 km from the port of area of Athens southern costal zone combining historic baths, a Piraeus and 40 km from Athens International Airport. It marina, an urban park, an Olympic Sports Complex and the tramway. extends on an area of nearly 457ha [1]. According to ancient The final result promotes sustainable development and sustainable Greek literature, cited in the official website of the city [2], mobility on the Athens coastline taking into consideration the recent Palaio Faliro was founded by Faliro, a local hero, and used to metropolisation of the Athens agglomeration. After a brief history of the municipality, we present the core of the new development. be the port of Athens before the creation of that of Piraeus. Behind the visible results, we highlight the main interactions among Until 1920, Palaio Faliro was a small seaside village with the principal actors that made this change possible, and constitute the few buildings, mainly fields where were cultivated wheat, main challenges for the future. With this case we learn that while the barley and oats and many vineyards. Most inhabitants were arrangement of space has its logistic difficulties regarding financial farmers, stockbreeders, and some were fishermen. Between and engineering aspects, the deeper challenge is that of exercising 1915 and 1920, some prosperous families started building the democracy justly — and even more so, in its own birthplace. fist villas by the sea modifying the visual character of the area. A few of these buildings can still be admired, for they are Keywords— Athens southern coast, Palaio Faliro, protected as listed buildings. Sustainable development, Urban renaissance, Olympic Games. A rapid urban and administrative evolution of Palaio Faliro started in the 1920s under the general influence of the urban I. INTRODUCTION sprawl of the agglomeration of the Greek capital during the second decade of the twentieth century. Around 800.000 refugees mainly from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace came to In this article we present the recent development of the city Greece due to the Balkan wars, World War I, the Soviet Revolution, the foundation of the Albanian State, the Italian of Palaio Faliro, a suburb on the waterfront of the metropolitan occupation of the Dodecanese and most importantly the defeat area of Athens, Greece. The particular case study is of the Greek army in Asia Minor in 1922; 25% thereof settled remarkable for having overcome complexities that have been in Athens. Thus, from 1922 to 1928 the population of the causing delays for many years, but also for presenting a prefecture of Attica increased by 68%; the inhabitants of the challenge in the practice of democracy — especially when the municipality of Athens increased by 72% reaching 459.211 case study is situated in the wider area of the historic inhabitants, while those in Piraeus by 88%. Greek refugees birthplace of democracy, namely in the Athenian metropolis. within the Greek State represented 30% of the population in The feature presentation is set against a historic background Attica, 28% of the inhabitants of Athens and 40% of the (II) and followed by the recent development and perspectives residents of Piraeus [3]. for the future (III). These events provoked a radical change on the Greek statutory urban framework. Thus, in 1923 was voted the basic urban law on planning (Legislative Decree of 17th July 1923), concerning the urban plans of cities, towns and communes. Its provisions were quite advanced for their time, some of which are still in force. The plot was considered as the basic unit of Manuscript received October 28, 2009. Stefanos Gerasimou is with the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, School of Applied city planning in order to associate urban to social policy. The Mathematical and Physical Science, National Technical University of Athens, space was divided into a) areas provided with an urban plan; Polytechneioupoli, 15772 Zografou, Athens Greece (phone: +30-210-772- b) areas without one and c) settlements built ante 1923. The 1612; fax: +30-210-772-1618; e-mail: [email protected]). settlements of the first category should be regulated and Anastássios Perdicoúlis is with the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK and with the developed in accordance to an urban plan subject to University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal (e-mail: constraints regarding the ratios and dimensions, the site [email protected]). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT Issue 4, Volume 3, 2009 179 coverage, the height of buildings, hygiene, security and the — Faliro (Greece) — Istanbul (Turkey). The third service was aesthetic aspect of buildings [4]. In addition, three methods of regarding sanitation: in 1930 the community water supply implementation of urban plans were provided for: a) the laying system was connected with the one of Athens. out of streets and squares by which properties falling, Following the above evolution, the population of Palaio according to the plan, within areas intended for public use are Faliro has considerably risen: 8 302 in 1940, 12 894 in 1951, taken away from their owners on payment of compensation 22 157 in 1961, 35 066 in 1971, 53 273 in 1981, 61 371 in (compulsory purchase); this usually occurs when new streets 1991 and 64 579 in 2001 [8]. According to the General are to be opened or old ones widened; b) the rearrangement of Secretariat of National Statistical Service of Greece 2 426 are plots through the exchange or the addition and subtraction of under 20, 18 386 are between 20 and 39, 18 457 are between certain parts of them; and c) the concession, by which the 40 and 59 years old and 15 490 are over 60). Moreover, the administration confers the ownership of plots to owners of population area from 10 655 km2 in 1981 reached nearly 12 neighbouring sites according to a certain procedure provided 951 km2 in 2001 [9]. by law; [5]. Furthermore, under social pressure to implement an affective housing policy the Greek legislator voted in 1928 Since 1955, and mainly after 1974, many Greek immigrants a Legislative Degree on a) building in areas without urban from Istanbul have chosen the city of Palaio Faliro as their plan; and b) industrial zones. One year later, in 1929, the new location of residence, after their expulsion by the Turkish Greek Parliament voted Law 3741/1929 regarding the government. In 1955 there were 110 000 Greeks living in horizontal division of immovables and separate ownership of Istanbul, while the population of the city was 1 543 000. In apartments, with a direct impact on the visual character of the 1989 there were only a few hundreds Greeks left [10]. Greek city, since it created the legal frame for building blocks Nowadays, Greeks from Istanbul represent arround 25% of the of flats. The same year the first General Building Regulation inhabitants of Palaio Faliro [11]. These facts reflect some was voted, which provided different building systems, the important changes: housing policy was modified and the maximum height of buildings and the insertion in the urban building coefficient in the central part of the suburb was fixed plan of provisions regarding industrial sites and archeological to 2.4. [12] Thus, in the nineteen seventies, most of the villas and historical monuments. Finally, the same period two special were demolished, while the majority of the the four storey laws over the protection of cultural heritage were voted: Law buildings have been replaced by eight storey ones altering the 4212/1929 by which a part of the city centre of Athens was visual character of the city [13]. Moreover, new restaurants recognised as an archeological site and Law 5351/1932, which and pastry shops with oriental flavours opened, as well as adopted measures in favour of the protection of ancient, sports and cultural clubs bearing names of the wider Istanbul Christian and Meadville monuments including peaces of all area, representing nearly 35% of the city shops. A similar kind of arts [6]. influence was obvious in the commercial centre of the city, In this context the community of Palaio Faliro was founded since many of the new inhabitants continued their commercial by presidential decree (1925) and nearly twenty years later, in activity. 1942, it became a municipality. In 1976 Palaio Faliro was During the 1970s, the metropolitan area of Athens has declared a ‘tourist site’ by presidential decree. Finally, in view altogether known an intense urbanisation, which led to serious of the Athens 2004 Olympics, Palaio Faliro was characterised environmental problems, such as the reduction of open public as an ‘Olympic Municipality’, since it hosts an important space, the increase of population density, the deterioration of Olympic venue — namely the Faliro Sports Pavilion. the built environment due to high density, and severe pollution Three major public works helped the city grow, two of of the marine environment. Hence, the city expanded to the which were in the transportation services. In 1883 the tramway north towards the foot of the surrounding mountains, while its was inaugurated, connecting Palaio Faliro to Athens.