Sites of water in the athenian urban landscape
On March 22, World Water Day, a new project begins in collaboration with Commonspace and the Greek section of the German Goethe Institute.
It's title? "Sites of Water".
#TopoiNerou aims to create an interactive map of highlighting and evaluating points of the city of Athens with a special element of water.
The urban landscape of the capital has been defined for decades by a building model dominated by buildings and hard surfaces. Unstructured areas, green spaces and even more water surfaces (outside the sea), cover a very small percentage of the city.
But there are here! In the city, there are places where the liquid element is located, with more or less intensity, influencing and reshaping its urban environment and the relationship of citizens with it. Streams and estuaries, swamps, lakes and other natural or man-made wetlands with constant or seasonal water flow exist in the city, often even within its densely populated neighborhoods.
The aim of the project is to reveal, highlight and coherently record a part of these places in the urban areas of Athens. A more specific targeting is the relationship of small or large water surfaces with the urban fabric and the operation of the city through the participation of the citizens themselves.
The interactive map that will be produced will identify points of interest, summarize information, photographs or other means of representation (eg sketches, maps) and will give the opportunity to evaluate or select the more and less "favorite" water places in the city.
In the age of climate collapse, where the need to maintain and increase water in the urban fabric is a priority, it is important to improve the relationship of citizens with the places where it is located.
The project is part of the project initiative:
Atlas of Mediterranean Liquidity (https://medliq.art/).
Take part in participatory mapping:
Put a special water point on the map of the city of Athens. An active stream, a beautiful artificial lake or just a public fountain you usually walk by. Use the new Location Based Social Network developed by Commonspace in collaboration with Sociality to capture the stories of Invisible Athens as part of the IN-ATHENS project.
Go to https://social.in-athens.gr/, register and add the points you want.
Watch the video with the instructions for use:
GR https://youtu.be/-ZQnXvrymOc
EN https://youtu.be/X1uWoScI96k
The platform will be open until Sunday 10 April. The final interactive map will be presented at a public event.
Area
Athens
Year
2022
Funding
Goethe Institut
Project team
Thanos Andritsos - Project manager
Anastasia Christaki
Melina Vlachou
Giouli Athousaki