Blending Green & Black

cool urban design in Athens

Thanos N. Stasinopoulos
School of Architecture, NTUAthens, Greece
tns@arch.ntua.gr

Passive & Low Energy Cooling conference - Rhodes 2010

Greater Athens: 1.3 million in 1950, over 4 million today.

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 A massive city has rapidly grown without coherent planning,
as a vast patchwork of dense urban blocks with just a few green areas.

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It is a typical example of the heat island effect.

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The mounting ills of random speculative expansion call for action,
above all boosting up urban greenery.

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Proposals vary:
• Replace derelict buildings with green pockets,
• Convert back yards to gardens,
• Encourage green roofs.

Gyzi 6
 The antagonism between cars & plants can trigger violence:
Riots erupted after several old trees were sacrificed for a new garage in 2009 .

The green campaign has two powerful opponents:

• the sanctity of real property, involving costly expropriations,
court marathons, disputes between owners.
• the car dominance, with increasing traffic congestion
and rising demand for parking space.
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 Various factors impede the quest for greener Athens:
limited funds, lack of incentives, legal disputes, speculative forces.
But deteriorating conditions require practical & cheap response
- applicable fast.

Exarchia 8
 A real example could inspire simple solutions
for existing situations and for future planning schemes too.

Papagou 9
It is located in the borough of Papagou, not far from the city centre.

Papagou

Acropolis

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It is an area of about 1 km2, planned by a military housing agency in
the early 1960s on a rocky scrubland next to Mount Hymettus .

NTUA campus

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‘Black’ and ‘green’ strips
separate the building blocks.
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Short byways provide
car access to all properties.
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It is a simple grid plan that blends buildings and 'countryside’,
creating pedestrian-only zones without obstructing car traffic.

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 looking east

black strip 19.9.10 green strip

looking west 15
Papagou is a medium density area.
Could such a scheme be implemented in denser parts of the city???
The general idea is fairly simple in practical terms:
in every second or third street of a neighbourhood, the asphalt is
stripped off, the soil is left exposed, and cars are replaced by trees.

Kypseli 16
Linear parks between buildings create continuous pedestrian green
corridors, interrupted by major vehicle routes only where absolutely
necessary.

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Schematically, several blocks merge into one, along a green spine.

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Green corridors differ from usual pedestrian or restricted traffic zones:
• Soil should be kept as bare as possible, to facilitate maximum
vegetation growth.
• Vehicle access should be over low-mass water-permeable surfaces,
allowed only for emergencies or entry to garages.

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Car traffic & parking are key issues,
so any realistic proposal should
(a) provide vehicle access to or near
each building,
(b) maintain the existing parking
capacity as possible.
In a ‘green-black’ layout, local loops
can allow vehicles to move without
reversing and maintain the existing
parking capacity, without crossing
the green strip.

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Technical aspects in practice

Locality Proposal

Traffic Circulation
Parking capacity Materials
Street size Vegetation
Ground floor uses Water
Utilities Outdoor amenities
Special features Debris

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 Environmental benefits

• Cooling: Asphalt & concrete thermal mass is reduced;

plants provide shading & transpiration.
• Water: Waterproof surfaces decrease, soil absorbs more
rainwater, flood risk drops, water table rises.
• Air: Vegetation replaces CO2 with oxygen and reduces
airborne particles.
• Location: Beneficial thermal effects are spread at ground
level where city life is.
• Shape: Elongated green areas affect longer perimeter.
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 Practical advantages

• Cost: Streets are public property still, therefore the

financial, procedural and legal hassles are less.
• Construction: It is easy, quick and cheap;
and so is maintenance.
Bonus: underground utility networks are easily accessible.
• Simpler than green roofs: No structural stress, no special
waterproofing, less sun & wind strain on vegetation, plenty
of soil for tree growth.
• Cityscape: Plants replace cars.
• Social: Pedestrian domain expands, facilitating leisure &
social activities adjacent to dwellings.
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Green corridors can easily be incorporated into Athens, offering
coolness and leisure areas with negligible burden to public budgets
and car traffic.
It is a generic idea that could be applied in actual projects,
considering various factors in each particular case.
A pilot ‘black & green’ project could demonstrate what the residents
of Papagou have been enjoying for many years.

Blending Green & Black - cool urban design in Athens

tns@arch.ntua.gr
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