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Spatial distribution of basic land-use classes in the Athens metropolitan region (source: European Environment Agency, 2012).
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In the new context of contemporary cities, local competitiveness for financial resources has grown more than ever, resulting in cities characterised by important socioeconomic transformations. Earlier studies addressed the relation between urban expansion, socioeconomic development and mega-events only for specific areas and types of urban growth,...
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... study area considered here is the administrative region of Attica in south-central Greece. Attica covers 3% of Greece's area but contributes to almost half of its GDP (Figure 1). In 2001 the greater metropolitan area of Attica had a popu- lation of about 3.5 million, which is 34% of the total popula- tion (Salvati, 2016). ...
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O presente artigo é resultado de uma compilação de pesquisas urbanas realizadas nos últimos anos, relacionando-as com os projetos urbanos para o megaevento da Copa de 2014 em Cuiabá, capital do Estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil. Esta cidade foi escolhida como uma das doze sedes do evento internacional de futebol desse ano. Assim, o texto faz uma breve...
Citations
... According to Yang et al. (2018), increases or decreases in housing affect not only urban or rural expansion but also the socio-economic development of the areas. Some affirm that in an inverse sense, the rapid economic growth of cities influenced by the sporting activities affects areas in all aspects of development and a high proportion of socio-economic sector development Salvati & Zitti (2017). ...
The rapid population increase in world cities, not excluding Africa and sub-Saharan African cities has had a considerable effect both on the space occupation and on the inhabitants themselves. Cameroon in general and Obala town in particular have witnessed a rapid increase in their population. Such a rapid increase has opened flood gates for land grabbing, creating problems including inadequate electricity supply, the absence of portable water, insecurity, and anarchy in construction. It is in furtherance of these issues that this paper seeks to examine the trend of urban spatial expansion and its implications for socio-economic development in the town of Obala. The research made use of secondary source data (published articles, reports, and theses). Primary source data was sourced from the administration of 116 questionnaires, some of which selected 13 quarters of the Obala urban space. Interviews and focus group discussions were organised with the objective of gathering information in Obala. To determine the rate of urban spatial expansion, a time series analysis of the years 1987, 2004, and 2020 was conducted with the use of multiple temporal Landsat satellite images. The result reveals that migration (immigration), the rehabilitation of the National Road, and the searches for employment opportunities have accelerated the urban spatial expansion in Obala. That is why urban space increased from 7.01% in 1987 to 9.01% in 2004, and in 2020, it hit 16.9%. In the social domain, the extension of electric poles and the construction of health centres and educational facilities have moved forward. In the economic domain, the emergence of commercial institutions (banks), market installations, and an increase in investment rates have increased the magnitude of economic activities in Obala.
... On the contrary, public opinion in many developed countries has generally shown an increasing apathy, when not frank adversity, towards these costly megaevents, which have often stressed too much the already-stretched public finances of the hosting country (Zimbalist 2015). Not by chance, scholars and the press have highlighted the link between the Athens 2004 Olympics and the successive Greek government-debt crisis of 2009 (Associated Press 2010;Berlin 2015), as well as other negative urban phenomena like a growing sprawl in a loosely regulated context (Salvati and Zitti 2017). Still, despite unproved claims of greater economic impact, which is generally positively overestimated (Barclay 2009), it is sometimes true that the Summer Olympic Games may stimulate GDP growth, while it is equally proved that the FIFA World Cup does not do it (Sterken 2006). ...
The geography of international megaevents has been rapidly changing in the last two decades, reflecting the rise of the BRICS on the world stage. New countries hosted for the first time such megaevents, whether China with the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Shanghai Expo 2010, South Africa with FIFA World Cup 2010, and Brazil with the 2014 FIFA World Cup and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. In the meantime, also Russia and Qatar hosted the FIFA tournament and Kazakhstan and the UAE an international Expo. This chapter investigates the architecture of these megaevents, whose master plans and main buildings were often designed by overseas architects. Despite a general lack of architectural significance for the buildings erected in their venues, megaevents represented important occasions for some megafirms able to capitalise on their previous experiences. In this context, architects once again came under the spotlight as their work occurred in countries with questionable human and labour rights records, but also because megaevents disproportionately affect more vulnerable communities and leave behind controversial urban legacies.
... 386). Indeed, sports and recreation venues-some of which are historically significant themselves-may also be used to promote the preservation of a city or region's cultural heritage (Salvati & Zitti, 2017). On the other hand, the construction of major sports venues and subsequent events they attract can have adverse effects on the natural environment (Kellison & Casper, 2017). ...
... Especially affected are the areas in the center and to the west and south of the Municipality of Athens. The conditions have also deteriorated in peri-urban areas of sprawl, suggesting the negative effects of unplanned growth [47][48][49]. Having said that, the fact that populations in the old industrial city quarters and Lavrion have persistently been affected by multiple deprivation also stands testament to the effects that de-industrialization and the debt crisis had on the social and physical fabric of the metropolis. ...
This paper presents the spatial distribution of multiple deprivation in Athens, and links these spatial patterns to the city’s urban development trajectory and the way housing is accessed. Multiple deprivation was measured as the combined concentration of disadvantageous employment situation, access to education and housing conditions. A principal components analysis was utilized for 20 variables from the three said domains. Two components were identified as statistically significant. The analysis covered approximately 3000 urban spatial analysis units (URANU), using data from the population censuses of 1991, 2001 and 2011. The findings unveil that from 1991 to 2011, multiple deprivation in the urban periphery as well as in city center areas worsened. Conditions in many (but not all) working-class areas in the west of Athens, as well as in middle class suburbs in the east, improved or did not get worse. If compared to the urban development trajectory of the city, this distribution means that the historical East–West socio-economic division is getting less pronounced, whereas an important center–periphery dynamic is emerging. The filtering and sorting process of the housing market could explain those trends. It appears that the most affected populations are those outside the Greek family-centered and homeownership-based model of access to housing.
... Cities are involved in the processes of world competition as a result of globalization influences (Salvati & Zitti, 2017). Marcuse and Van Kempen (2000) initiated the discussion about the social and spatial consequences of such involvement, which changes the economic and cultural functions and tasks of the city and simultaneously transforms the concept of urban planning. ...
The abandonment of Soviet urban planning approaches, the liberalization of appertaining legislation, confusion under the pressure of business priorities, and the lack of a national urban strategy make Ukrainian cities vulnerable to ongoing change. This article analyses the current urban functional and spatial transformations that result from the influences of neoliberal globalization. It considers Kyiv’s nodal areas as the focus of major structural changes. The methodology addresses these processes, including their characteristics and salient features. Because of their social and historical significance, some nodal areas are acquiring more cultural and symbolic value, but at the same time the impact of certain ill-conceived replacements of the original functions can be observed in practice. The study identified forty-four nodal areas and classified six types of transformations according to their social and cultural value. In most nodal areas, the cultural, aesthetic, representative, and communication functions are being replaced by commercial, service, and transport land uses. Selected case studies demonstrate the importance of continued public involvement in reorganizing Kyiv’s urban space.
... The nature and dynamics of urban sprawl in Central Europe take on different dimensions: infrastructure-related sprawl can be observed around Athens (Salvati & Zitti, 2017); postsocialist city sprawl is taking place in Warsaw and Ljubljana; sprawl based on second homes can be encountered in Austria (Couch, 2008). Many needs of Central European suburban residents, ranging from infrastructural to cultural and communal, remain unfulfilled. ...
... The nature and dynamics of urban sprawl in Central Europe take on different dimensions: infrastructure-related sprawl can be observed around Athens (Salvati & Zitti, 2017); postsocialist city sprawl is taking place in Warsaw and Ljubljana; sprawl based on second homes can be encountered in Austria (Couch, 2008). Many needs of Central European suburban residents, ranging from infrastructural to cultural and communal, remain unfulfilled. ...
... The nature and dynamics of urban sprawl in Central Europe take on different dimensions: infrastructure-related sprawl can be observed around Athens (Salvati & Zitti, 2017); postsocialist city sprawl is taking place in Warsaw and Ljubljana; sprawl based on second homes can be encountered in Austria (Couch, 2008). Many needs of Central European suburban residents, ranging from infrastructural to cultural and communal, remain unfulfilled. ...
The special issue "Public Space for Local Life" is the result of a call for paper launched following the international conference "PUBLIC SPACES FOR LOCAL LIFE. Shared values in diversified urban communities as a foundation for participatory provision of local public spaces" -- a joint event of the EU Human Cities partnership & AESOP Thematic Group Public Spaces and Urban Cultures, which was held in Ljubljana in May 2017. Through the blind peer review process, the guest editors together with the editor in chief have selected 7 contributions that address the issue of public space from different points of view.
Athens: three million people in the conurbation area, four million in the greater city area, 40% of Greece’s population, and 50% of its annual GDP. Beyond asymmetries, development process, morphology, functionality, and sociability are distinctive features. Athens is a successful nineteenth-century Brasilia. When the place becomes a capital in 1833, it is a half-ruined Ottoman village. One has to wait for three quarters of a century for the city to reach 200,000 people, then another half-century to attain one million, and three more decades only (1950–1980) for its population to double.
Everywhere, urban landscapes appear to be modern, uninteresting, constantly rebuilt on their own ashes. The city has long been the sole productive and decision-making center on a national basis, nourished with backcountry losses. However, landscapes reveal varied urban cultures. Athens is Mediterranean by its way of living, European by persistent social imbalances inherited from the nineteenth century, American over the last three decades by the motorization of younger generations, stretching space and achieving decentralization. It still remains Greek by its urban fabric. These processes enabled a wide dissemination of property speculation practices generating economic wealth.
