Valerian Andonis Portokalis, Xenia Stoumpou

Project Location 
Athens, Greece 

Topic 
Landscape Regeneration Infrastructure, Water 

Program 
Landscape Gardens & Parks, Regeneration 

Athenian Riverscapes as Climate Adaptive Urban Figures 

In the midst of the unfolding planetary climate urgency, metropolitan Athens finds itself confronted with its inherent deficiencies, degenerating into an urban code red. The transformation of its dual river system, through the introduction of landscape infrastructures, is envisioned as an allegory for a new resilient urban vision. 

Following predictions related to flood and drought, heat stress and fire hazard, metropolitan Athens stands in a recurring state of climate emergency, while historic deficiencies (high building density, green space deficit and excessive sealing of grounds) further amplify global warming-induced realities. The thesis explores the formulation of a coherent narrative on how the lost Athenian riverscapes can stand as spatial and symbolic vessels for socio-ecological change: a mechanism to discuss and eventually apply climate adaptive strategies to a stressed urban condition, by fundamentally reweaving environmental and social systems through robust green-blue infrastructural commons. 

Based on climate data, an initial mapping revealed the spatialisation of climate hazards on a metropolitan scale. A thorough historical mapping combined with fieldwork allowed for the understanding of the urban water cycle shift: from natural landscape system to manmade grey infrastructure. Site-specific interventions were envisioned to shape a comprehensive landscape system of water retention, re-use and remediation. The main design case-study focuses on Elaionas (Olive Grove), an 11 km2 brownfield in the midst of the city. The area is the topographically defined flood plain of Kifissos River which used to accommodate the historic olive grove of the Athenian plain (100.000 trees). Its industrialisation and subsequent decline render it a field in dire need of both a social and ecological reconstruction. The site is re-envisioned as a flooded mosaic, a kidney of sorts, retaining and treating storm water run-off on a metropolitan scale while undergoing a systematic afforestation. The abundance of unbuilt yet sealed surfaces along with the existing agricultural plot layout are guiding the design to incorporate a three-fold water system as run-off treatment and water re-cycling mesh, interweaved with urban terraces and manufacturing clusters. The vision for Elaionas lies on the very idea of keeping, redistributing and reusing water mounting up to 8% of the water use on city scale, by incrementally transforming the existing mosaic in what would be a socially grounded, multi-functional and inhabited Grove. The proposed design is one of many potential outcomes in a long-lasting process of transformation which can anticipate and accommodate for change. Reconnecting the Basin by repairing the disrupted hydrological network is a strategy for the effective and resilient adaptation of the contemporary city of Athens to new climate realities. Proposed interventions attempt to overcome long-lasting dualisms of grey-vs-green and leisure-vs-infrastructure space, constituting innovative hybrid forms as new archetypes of a socially inclusive and water-sensitive urbanism.