Thessaloniki, a bustling and lively city, faces the challenge of limited public and
green spaces amidst its dense urban fabric. Compared to European standards,
Thessaloniki has one of the lowest ratios of green space per resident, with only
2.6 m² per inhabitant (Latinopoulos et al. 2016:132). On average, some 40 %
of the surface area of European cities is made up of urban green infrastructure,
with around 18.2 m2 of publicly accessible green space per inhabitant;
44 % of Europe‘s urban population lives within 300 m of a public park (European
Commission n.d). This suggests that prior policies and initiatives aimed at
tackling this problem have faced significant hurdles and have not yet produced
substantial outcomes (cf. Karagianni 2023). The scarcity of green spaces is
further exacerbated by the city‘s high residential densities (COT 2017). These
circumstances highlight the pressing need for effective interventions and strategies
to enhance the availability and accessibility of public and green spaces
in Thessaloniki. This text primarily focuses on the western part of Thessaloniki
for the analysis of visibility, characteristics/typologies, impact on surroundings,
challenges, and solutions & measures of green spaces. Therefore, this text gives
an overview of the accessibility of green spaces; some are more hidden as
they are small and not in prominent locations, whilst others are very visible due
to their size and location. Further, different typologies of green spaces could
be defined in the study area due to their different characteristics; these include
squares & parks, pathway greenery, tree lines, school courtyards, sports areas,
and open non-designed spaces. Each green space brings a potential to enhance
its surroundings socially, environmentally, and economically. Finally, some
solutions and measures are formulated to combat the challenges the green
spaces of Thessaloniki face. By narrowing the scope to this specific area, we
aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and issues related
to public and green spaces in this particular region of the city.
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