The hybrid landscape of public space in Thessaloniki in the context of crisis

Abstract

The article focuses on trends that redefine the public nature of public spaces in Thessaloniki by departing from publicly owned and managed spaces and introducing new agents to their management. The first trend is characterised by official urban policies that introduce the private and voluntary sector into the management and maintenance of public space. While forming part of the dominant neoliberal paradigm, privatisation processes materialise through a local mix of mechanisms in crisis-stricken Thessaloniki. The second trend originates from citizen-led initiatives and seeks to reassert ‘publicness’, foregrounding collective activity and participation. A case of urban farming of an abandoned military camp is reviewed as an example of this trend. The article argues that the two trends contribute to the creation of a hybrid landscape of public space in which the commonly perceived binary of private and public is redefined towards two divergent directions, representing different imaginaries of ‘publicness’.

Keywords:

• Public space
• economic crisis
• Thessaloniki
• urban agriculture
• disused military camps

Notes

1. Reform of the spatial planning system was among the programme’s requirements with the pronounced objective to reduce time-consuming procedures and make land more attractive to private investment. ‘Planning reform’ solidified into a new planning law, in force since July 2014.

2. The Fund comprises small and big public properties, the water and sewage utility of Thessaloniki, rights of use of regional airports and small marinas, and can be augmented with additional entities.

3. Military camps M. Alexandrou and Papakyriazi, both at the western part of the city, were included in HRADF’s list by the Interministerial Committee for Restructurings and Privatisations (Government Newsletter, 2013).