- GLOBALISATION AND URBAN LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATIONS: Built heritage and Innovative Design versus non-competitive morphologies in Athens 2004.   click here to open paper content64 kb
by    Beriatos, Elias & Gospodini, Aspa | beriatos@prd.uth.gr   click here to send an email to the auther(s) of this paper
Short Outline
This paper deals with transformations of urban landscape in the era of globalisation. It attempts to investigate the degree to which new urban governance policies support urban morphologies widely accepted as competitive edges of urban landscape; and as such, built heritage and innovative design of space are examined. As case study of this research, Athens and the landscape transformations for Olympic Games 2004 are analysed.
Abstract
This paper deals with transformations of urban landscape in the era of globalisation. It attempts to investigate the degree to which new urban governance policies support urban morphologies widely accepted as competitive edges of urban landscape; and as such, built heritage and innovative design of space are examined. As case study of this research, Athens and the landscape transformations for Olympic Games 2004 are analysed.

In the above framework, research surveys all projects that have been realised in Athens and financed by public funds in the last six years. The list of projects includes all new buildings and building complexes, urban development and redevelopment projects, conservation and renewal projects - whether serving exclusively Olympic Games or the city as a whole. Projects are first classified into two main categories in respect to their potential of reshaping landscape according to the requirements of new era; a) competitive edge projects and b) non-competitive edge projects In the former main category, research distinguishes two sub-groups; i) built heritage projects aiming to enhance local culture and identity and ii) projects based on innovative design aiming to promote the city’s status in the hierarchies of the global urban system. In the latter main category are classified all other projects that do not have a strong impact on transforming landscape but they somehow serve in tiding and embellishing urban space or, improving function and amenities of the city (e.g infrastructure projects, embellishments in public open spaces, etc).

The outcome of the research in Athens and the strategic plan of the city for Olympic Games 2004 points that public investments in competitive edge projects – built heritage and innovative design schemes – are remarkably higher than investments in non-competitive edge projects. This result may support the argument that globalisation and intercity competition are polarising urban landscapes; they are gradually transforming them from continuous, homogeneous systems with different degrees of quality and amenities in different cities, into fragmentary and heterogeneous systems within the same city. In other words, the emerging new urban landscapes in the era of globalisation and intercity competition tend to constitute a random mixture of high quality islands with well-preserved built heritage cores or well-marketed avant-garde design schemes – all surrounded by lower quality in between spaces.
Keywords
urban landscape, built heritage, innovative design
Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2003: Planning in a more globalized World
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