Thessaloniki’s urban body sprawls around an arc of coastline at the top of the Thermaic Gulf. A major spatial characteristic of the city’s metropolitan area is the extent and multifunctional coastal line connecting the various urban activities, most of them of regional and national importance, such as the Axios River Delta (Natura area), the Thessaloniki Port, and the Macedonia Airport. With a more than 40 km length, Thessaloniki’s shoreline is the city’s major geographic and urban feature. We must also acknowledge the allusive structure of the many transverse streams that flowed into the sea and were absorbed by the corresponding urban grid that replaced them. Today, the city’s extensive marine zone and the remaining streams are both natural ecosystems and hosts that shelter life, thus acting as a “bridge” between the technical and the natural “body” of the city.
In urban areas, streams are the main recipient of most of the pressures resulting from urban sprawl and its accompanying functions. Degradation of water quality, restriction of the riverbed, and often the transformation of the stream, into a closed underground conduit, are some of the pressures that streams can be subjected to, from the urban environment. In this context, it is very common for streams to be cut off from their natural environment, which leads to changes in the functioning of this natural ecosystem and the individual ecosystems that have developed within them. Human intervention is crucial both in reversing this situation and in encouraging a redefinition of the role of streams in urban areas. Urban streams can be seen as transitional areas where ‘novel’ and ‘hybrid’ – ecosystems can be created.
The streams in the Conurbation of Thessaloniki have undergone significant changes, and over time, large parts of them have been transformed into closed underground conduits. Therefore, the picture that most streams present is one of partial preservation of the original bed at a specific point and the emergence of new/hybrid local ecosystems. These ecosystems retain some of the original elements of the stream and they also try to adapt to the new situation and the constraints created by the built environment.
This paper argues that we should consider the emergence of a new “water geography” as an ecosystem paths network within the city, a dynamic, hybrid, which is well-connected with the city and its natural elements. This approach provides new key aspects for policymakers and planners, particularly as urban sustainability, resilience, and environmental crisis, increasingly reshape metropolitan cities and pinpoint a need to consider these topics yet further.
City Narratives 