Greece: ambitious plan of smart city

A "smart city" is under construction in Greece

Construction cranes are moving over Athens's shimmering coastline, building a 50-story luxury skyscraper that will be the centerpiece of Greece's future "smart city," overlooking the Saronic Gulf from high above.

At their foot, construction vehicles kick up dust. The €8 billion privately funded project is set to become a symbol of Greece's rebirth after years of financial stagnation as investors fled the country.

But critics see it as a future "ghetto for the rich." Odysseas Athanasiou, chief executive of the Lamda Group, which owns the site, says it is hard to imagine that a new city "three times the size of Monaco" will emerge within ten kilometers of the Acropolis by 2036.

One of Europe's largest urban regeneration projects, Ellinikon, will include several villas, two hotels, shopping centres, a university, a marina, and other buildings. It will also include the Riviera Tower, which will become Athens' tallest skyscraper by the end of 2026.

Around 30 000 people will be able to live in the city

The 6.2 square kilometre site, home to Athens International Airport for decades, is estimated to accommodate around 30 000 people.

An exhibition hall will be set up in the former terminal, listed as a cultural heritage site since 2001, when the airport was relocated.

During the 2004 Olympic Games, Ellinikon became a sports center, hosting competitions including kayaking and hockey. However, the premises were subsequently abandoned, and the financial crisis hit the Greeks hard.

Solidarity groups, in an attempt to compensate for the inactivity of a virtually bankrupt state, set up a community garden, a grocery store, and a free medical center at Ellinikon.

During the 2015 migrant crisis, refugees were temporarily housed in abandoned stadiums. After the EU and the IMF urged the country to embark on a wave of privatization, Athens was forced to sell Ellinikon.

Lamda, a holding company specializing in real estate development, investment, and management, won the tender in 2014 for less than €1 billion. The company is listed on the stock exchange and is majority-owned by Greek tycoon Spiros Latsis.

"Lamda's CEO O. Athanasiou says the company is building "the largest coastal park in the world", with one third of the area dedicated to public green spaces.

Construction started from scratch

"We are building from scratch, which is a great advantage," said O. Athanasiou.

"Cities like Singapore, Copenhagen and Amsterdam have done incredible technological things. But what they have created has had to be adapted to existing infrastructure," he explained.

In total, the park will have 8-9,000 homes. The most luxurious apartments in the Riviera Tower could cost up to €25 million, O said. Athanasiou. The cheapest will sell for around €400,000, which critics say is completely unaffordable for many Athenians.

"This is not a real estate project, it's a coastal colony," said Nikos Belavilas, director of the Urban Environment Laboratory at the National Technical University of Athens.

"We will have a gated community, isolated from the city, with skyscrapers and casinos for those who siphon off oil money," he said, adding that Athens is more in need of social or student housing.

There is a severe lack of green spaces in the concrete capital, whose streets are spiraling out of control.

"Ellinikon, with its parks and beaches, was "an opportunity for the city to have a large green space", said Belavilas.

There is no shortage of criticism of the project

According to the researcher, Ellinikon could have become the Tempelhof of Athens, referring to the former West Berlin airport, which turned into a huge park open to all in the centre of the German capital.

"The Ellinikon project is "scary on several levels", especially in terms of the "macroeconomic management of the country", stressed one Athens architect, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other Greeks complain that the state has simply "parcelled out" the site.

O. Atanasiou counters that when the privatisation took place, "we were the only ones who responded to the invitation to tender". He argues that the project "will strengthen the country's credibility abroad, which has suffered greatly during the crisis". Up to 80 000 jobs would be created and the project would generate more than €14 billion in tax revenue for the Greek state.

Based on ELTA reports