Walking, feeling, talking: the experience of public space in the historical center of Athens

Abstract

This article examines walking as a spatial-temporal practice as well as a transformative practice within public space. The historical center of Athens has recently undergone a major transformation of its public spaces, produced mostly by major pedestrianization projects within the context of a reworking of the archaeological touristic profile of the capital. This article aims to explore the plural facets of experiencing the city while walking, which have been neglected by Greek planning authorities. Temporality, rhythmicity and presence make walking a meaningful practice that goes beyond the objective perception of the trail. Drawing on the narratives of six citizens while walking, this article seeks to develop a vocabulary capable of informing public space design. The author, who takes a geographical, ethnographic perspective, aims to contribute through developing fieldwork methods and deepening the debate on public space planning by revealing walking as a place-anchored experience.

Keywords:

• Walking
• public space
• Athens
• pedestrian
• experience

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges insightful suggestions from the anonymous reviewers and from Nicolas Kenny, Daniel Morat and Maarten Walraven.

Notes

1. What we call today the historical center is an official perimeter approved in 1979, which weaves a surface of distinct ambiances of neighborhoods.

2. Six inhabitants of the city center whose interviews are treated as anonymous. They are here presented using the following pseudonyms: [P] Panagiotis, age 40 is a civil servant, [Ma] Maria age 39 is a dentist, [L] Loizos age 32 is a bartender, [A] Andreas age 42 is a sports teacher, [Mi] Michalis age 50 is a concierge, and [I] Irina age 29 is a painter.

3. Both Gustav Eduard Schaubert and Stamatios Kleanthis were urban planners assigned by the Bavarian regency to propose the first urban plan for the capital.

4. In 1996, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of public works and Environment signed a contract and created an anonymous society of city planning whose objective was to improve the walking itineraries around archeological sites.

5. Interview with Efi Tsiotsou, president of Onassis Foundation in Athens, conducted on the 5th of July 2013.

6. The participants were contacted through my professional and social networks with the limitation that they should not know me directly. The six itineraries presented here form part of a larger corpus of 20 itineraries that were held during the fieldwork research for my doctoral dissertation.