Sprawl and mega-events: Economic growth and recent urban expansion in a city losing its competitive edge (Athens, Greece)
Journal Title: Urbani izziv - Year 2017, Vol 28, Issue 2
Abstract
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, often overlooking the role of mega-events in fuelling urban sprawl. As the host of the 2004 Olympic Games, Athens, Greece is a paradigmatic example for emerging cities hosting mega-events due to the close interconnection between the Olympics, infrastructure development and urban sprawl. This article connects the latent relationship between economic expansion driven by the Olympic Games and laissez-faire urbanism to the long-term unregulated urban expansion characterising Athens’s development. By providing room for the original wave of sprawl, the resulting socioeconomic context is interpreted as a signal of the weakness of the “competitive city” framework in poorly planned and long-deregulated urban contexts such as Athens. A comprehensive analysis of recent phases of economic growth and discontinuous urban expansion thus provides further insight into understanding sprawl processes in today’s cities, and helps distinguish the morphological patterns and socioeconomic dynamics that characterise urban expansion during sequential cycles of economic expansion and recession.
Authors and Affiliations
Luca Salvati, Marco Zitti
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP337017
- DOI 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2017-28-02-003
- Views 20
- Downloads 0
Revitalizacija stavb kulturne dediščine na podlagi kreativnega in kulturnega sektorja; predstavitev projekta Forget Heritage
-
O znanosti pisanja
-
Rethinking public space through food processes: Research proposal for a “public city”
Wide areas in urban peripheries are made up of the council housing, i.e., neighbourhoods provided by public authorities. Diverse in building forms and types, these areas are frequently equipped with large open spaces: th...
Residential satisfaction questionnaires: A systematic review
Residential satisfaction is a topic that has been extensively studied in recent decades because it can offer important insights into the quality of the residential environment. However, many inconsistencies and unanswere...
Spremembe so stalnica
/