Ten infrastructure facilities Athens is still lacking

Once there is a lot of talking about Athens, its reconstruction and necessary facelifts for its further touristic development, which has admittedly gained considerable ground over the recent years, here is a useful reminder as to what the city still does not have but needs to have. In the Greek capital, approximately 4.5 million people live and work, while the metropolitan grid (“Greater Athens”) expands over a much larger area that starts from Thriasio Pedio to Koropi and from the Saronic Gulf to Aghios Stefanos.

If we want to see Athens blossom and transform to one of the developed cities in Europe, we should, as a country, pursue projects in order to develop infrastructure similar to other Metropolises of Western Europe similar size. Athens, in terms of population, belongs in the same category as Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Milan or Barcelona. ​​

So, if we take a closer look we will realize that, despite its considerable steps of progress, Athens is still lagging behind in some infrastructure. Here at Ypodomes.com, we have writen down these deficiencies and today we present you the 10 largest infrastructure that Athens still does not have.

1. Metropolitan Parks 

Who said that Athens has no parks at all? Of course it does. There is  Antonis Tritsis Environmental Park, which is the largest in Athens… but its on the outskirts of the city. There is Goudi Park… but it’s difficult to access. There are also parks such Pedion Areos in the city center (not very friendly for visitors though), in Nea Philadelphia, Nea Smyrni etc. But none of them resembles those abroad. They are usually poorly maintained, dangerous in some cases and generally not attractive for the citizens. 

2. Extensive Metro Network

Athens, considering its size has a limited Metro and fixed rail network in general. Apart from Rome, which also has 3 Metro lines but a very extensive Tram network, all other European cities in the size of Athens, have 5 Metro lines or more (Barcelona has, for example, 9 lines) and an extensive network of Suburban Railwat and Tram.

3. Covered Market

The image of the Athens and Piraeus Covered Marketsare truly dissapointing and depressing. Sensitive edible products exposed in a not very hygienic way, unpleasant odours and an overall picture that is not flattering at all for the capital. In Piraeus, plans are under consideration for the tranfer and improvement of the current covered market facilities. In the case of Athens, no plans whatsoever.

4. Central Railway Station

The Central Railway Station, aka “Larissa Station” in Athens features facilities that in Europe, one we would see in a relatively remote suburb. Calling such facilities Athens “Central Railway Station” is nothing more but a euphimism. The plans for a large and modern Central Railway Station for the city, have been abandoned along with the city’s “railway prestige”.

5. Intercity Buses Terminal Station

AAnother urgent facility improvement, necessary for the capital. The current image of Intercity Buses Terminal in Kifissos and Liosion Streets is poor and, up to a certain extent defamatory. Needs have grown so much over the years that many bus services have resorted in terminating in other areas as well (Thissio, Egyptou Sq etc.), while international routes terminate where they please.

6. Bicycle paths

Athens does has bicycle paths. But they are not enough and, unfortunately, they do not connect to each other. The isolated designs of bicycle paths in multiple municipalities resulted in the development of a scattered network that forces cyclists getting in and out on the road depending on the availability of the paths. A uniform design is necessary while additional space must be given to urban cyclists, who are now forced to drive along with pedestrians.

7. City

The trend that has been created over the last 15 years is the development of a “City”, an area that will attract companies that are interested in finding an exclusively corporate environment within the urban grid. This has been the norm in many Metropolises of Europe with a large population (e.g. London), but also with a much smaller population (e.g. Vienna). Athens has no plans in its agenda to pursue something similar that could boost the economic climate of city. Unfortunately.

8. Disabled access spaces

The bitter truth is that people with mobility issues cannot practically move around Athens in most cases. Infrastructure for mobility facilitation do exist (such as ramps on pavements, special traffic lights, engraved tiles that provide guidance for blinds) but, yet again there is no unified design while there a many incidents where disrespectful citizens block access to existing facilities such as, by parking vehicles causing blockage of ramps etc.

9. Electric buses fleet

There is a trend over the last decade for the deployment of electric buses in large European cities, that help to combat air or noise pollution and contribute to the improvement of travel conditions. And this would be one is one of the few cases, that we should be smiling as we do have electric trolley buses running for decades in the capital. Unfortunately, the fleet is seriously ageing causing poor environmental performance.

10. Waste management

Encouraging efforts are being made here, as the current system is obsolete and requires an overhaul towards the logic of full waste recovery. Improvements have been made but more steps need to be taken. Factories model did not secure the support of the administration in the region of Attica and now there is an attempt of adopting a new model; i.e. recycling at the source. Nevertheless, changes are slow while in other European cities great leaps of progress have been made.

The list could be even more extensive if we had included other issues such as the absence of regular road and pavements’ maintenance, road markings etc.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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