Green corridors and exterior common areas, enhancing connectivity in Athens, Greece

Abstract

The greater Athens area, Greece's capital, has a very low percentage of green spaces which also lack connectivity, resulting in an urban environment which is anything but resilient and sustainable. This deficiency is particularly evident in the city's centre, where building regulations allow for tall buildings with maximum lot coverage, leaving little room for green areas. The few green spaces which do exist in Athens are usually in poor condition and their potential role as a "building block" of the city is overlooked. To remedy this situation, the existing green spaces as well as their connectivity must be improved, making them more appealing and accessible. Considering however that their percentage is so small, one way to "create" more of them is to take advantage of the unbuilt and overlooked surfaces in the back of lots, otherwise known as exterior common areas, which are privately owned, belonging to all of the owners in any given building block. They have the potential to become havens of greenery and pockets of tranquillity, transforming the urban environment on many levels. One way to make these green spaces (existing parks) and potential green spaces (exterior common areas) more accessible and better connected is through the use of green corridors. Thus, this paper's objective is to present such a design proposal, creating a green corridor network within Athens' city centre, linking the various existing parks with a few exterior common areas.