More Athenian Sociospatial Injustice in the Works? Creating a Metropolitan Park at the Former Hellinikon International Airport of Athens

Abstract

Hellinikon is the largest publicly owned urban coastal area in Attica (626 ha), as well as one of very few such areas left across the European urban coasts. It is the only remaining large-scale open space of Athens that can address the shortage of green public spaces, provide access to 3.5 km of the urban waterfront, and supply an existing building stock for necessary social uses. By employing quantitative and qualitative methods with cross-disciplinary data at multiple scales, this paper has three objectives: a) to analyse how current privatization processes intensify sociospatial inequalities and injustices, while also generating opposition from urban social movements; b) to document the indispensability and feasibility of creating the Metropolitan Park of Hellinikon; and c) to propose a basic strategy for immediate protection of public ownership and the phased creation of a Green, Culture and Recreation Park. In the midst of “no alternatives” discourses, the paper presents a realistic counter-proposal to privatization plans and mega-projects for Hellinikon and other public spaces across Athens and Europe.