“We are turning a place that is 70% cement into a place that will be 70% green,” says Odysseas Athanasiou, CEO of Lamda Development, in statements hosted by the Sunday Times.
“Just eight kilometers from the Acropolis, a futuristic plan for a sustainable way of life is taking shape,” says the latest edition of “The Sunday Times” in her extensive report on the larger work of urban regeneration in Europe, Hellinikon.
The report entitled “How Athens is turning its abandoned airport into a smart city” points out among other things that “the vast area of land three times the size of Monaco is to become the The Ellinikona development project that the Greek government and the project management team hope will highlight how far the country has come since the financial crisis.”
“At the center of The Ellinikon will be the largest coastal park in Europe, spanning 2,000 acres and occupying a third of the total site. The area, which will be twice the size of Hyde Park in London, will form the heart of a new “15-minute city” southwest of Athens. Everything a resident might need, from shops and offices to schools and hospitals, will be no more than a 15-minute walk from the center of the park, reducing the need for cars. About 50 kilometers of walking and cycling paths will be built in the area, along with a new tram line connecting it to two nearby metro stations,” the paper said in its report.
Athanasiou Street – We are turning a place that is 70% cement into a place that will be 70% green
“We are turning a place that is 70% cement into a place that will be 70% green,” says Odysseas Athanasiou, CEO of Lambda Development which is responsible for the regeneration of the area of six million square meters, pointing out among other things that “we are lucky because we can create this smart city from scratch”. “In our case, we can put fiber optic cables and sensors all over the place before we even start paving,” he adds.
The publication mentions many of the new landmarks that are being created and emphasizes the green character of the project as well as the large park. “The park will have 31,287 trees representing 86 endemic species in Greece, as well as millions of plants designed to cope with hot and dry climates. A former Olympic canoeing and kayaking facility is being transformed into a 15-acre lake that will help store excess stormwater. It is extremely rare to find such a large area of land in a European capital and even rarer to have a third of this area given over to green spaces. However, although plans for this giant park have been in the making for years, its construction is in line with the shift in land use in the US and Europe,” reports the Sunday Times.
Real estate developers are increasingly choosing to convert significant portions of their land into green space, realizing that the long-term benefits of this decision outweigh the quick returns of building yet another apartment complex. In London, for example, Canada Water’s 215-acre redevelopment by British Land in the southwest of the city includes 49 acres of parks and open space. Research has shown that the benefits of having more green spaces range from lower rates of depression in adults to a reduced risk of childhood obesity. At the same time, parks contribute to improving air quality, maintaining milder temperatures and reducing noise, the publication states.
“Currently the site is buzzing with construction activity, with cranes and bulldozers just beginning to transform this derelict site. However, in an effort to show the public and prospective buyers what the future holds, Lamda has created a massive visitor center in a converted aircraft hangar at the edge of the development site,” it points out.
The large park, casino and new seafront are expected to attract an extra million tourists a year to Athens and the site will add 2.2% to the size of the Greek economy and create 80,000 jobs by 2025.
“This is a huge area next to the sea that was empty and this is something you don’t find in any other capital in the 21st century,” argues Mr. Athanasiou. “We have clean sea, abundant green spaces, fantastic weather, good infrastructure with metro and tram lines and everything else a smart city can offer. It’s a combination that, in my opinion, you can’t find anywhere else in the world.”
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