Urbanization and Public Space in the Eastern Coast of Attica: the birth of a problematic ‘city’

This Work Report of Research Results presents the findings of the EKKE's non-funded research project aiming at exploring the urbanization and the urban design of public spaces in the eastern coasts of Attica in the context of identifying the specific development of a new suburban metropolitan area on the eastern sea front of the capital. The organization and design of urban and peri-urban space is directly related to the way it is developed as it is involved in the implementation of multiple economic and political choices. Nowadays, the themes of growth patterns and models come back with the new conditions of the crisis affecting most countries, highlighting new data and new demands for sustainable development. New trends are emerging about the reorganization and planning processes of both residential areas in general and coastal zones within wider metropolitan areas in particular, while urban planning tools are required to respond to new requirements. In this context, interest in public spaces is re-established more and more frequently, and is expanding both in terms of their development processes and social and cultural considerations about their use. Public spaces are the primary forum for meeting the problems of creating and using communication networks and infrastructures within the city. In the framework of this project, the residential development of the last decades in demarcated areas of second residence, which were included in the city plan with the procedures of Law 1337/1983, is investigated in order to evaluate the changes that have been made in the respective areas, by applying the mechanisms urbanization and land policy and the way they contribute to shaping the public / communal space. The project aims at highlighting the relationship between the unplanned nature of previous housing development and the creation of a 'new' wider spatial area of ​​peculiar peri-urban development. In particular, studying the formation of communal public open spaces, their spatial and social functioning is assessed in the wider coastal region of Eastern Attica.