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Greece is building a massive sustainable city by the sea

The Ellinikon will feature residential, commercial and working spaces – all within 20 minutes of Athens

Ed Cunningham
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Ed Cunningham
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From the Parthenon and the Acropolis to the city’s huge array of temples and amphitheatres, Athens is best known for its spectacular ancient charms. But that could soon all be about to change: the Greek capital is set to be home to a hyper-modern mega-city that could be one of the most futuristic settlements on the planet. 

The project is called the Ellinikon and it’ll make use of over six million square metres of land that was previously used as the city’s airport. Essentially a coastal suburb of Athens – the site is just 20 minutes’ metro ride from the centre of the city – it’ll be built pretty much entirely from scratch. 

So what exactly can we expect from the Ellinikon? Well, in short, pretty much everything you’d usually have in a city. From hotels and offices to residential districts, health facilities and sports venues, the Ellinikon will also feature its own riviera, a marina, a vast park and supposedly the largest retail area in Europe.

All this is billed as ‘Europe’s greatest urban regeneration project’ – and the designs look pretty dazzling. Here are a few renders. 

The Ellinikon, Athens
Image: DBOX
The Ellinikon, Athens
Image: The Ellinikon
The Ellinikon, Athens
Image: The Ellinikon
The Ellinikon, Athens
Image: The Ellinikon

Now, if you’re thinking that all this doesn’t necessarily look very sustainable, well, it’s fair to be skeptical. On the one hand, the Ellinikon will be kitted out with loads of cutting-edge green tech and feature a two-million-square-metre coastal park, plus 50 kilometres of paths for pedestrians and cyclists. It's also set to be a ’15-minute city’, meaning that everything is accessible on foot.

Which all sure sounds pretty green, right? However, as always with these things, it’s probably sensible to wait and see how the Ellinikon turns out before deciding whether it’s actually sustainable or not.

The Ellinikon is set to open in phases. ‘Phase A’, which includes a residential tower and a complex for shopping and dining, is expected to open as soon as 2025. In total, the project is expected to cost a whopping €8 billion (£6.98 billion, $8 billion).

If you want to get a taster of what the Ellinikon will be like, you can find out at an interactive exhibition called The Ellinikon Experience. It's free to enter and hosted in an old airplane hangar on the future Ellinikon site – you can book a visit here.

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