A former Athens airport site is set to host one of the continent’s most ambitious urban greening projects.
Called the Ellinikon Park, it won’t only add an unforgettable attraction to the birthplace of Democracy, but also a shaded refuge for residents of the continent’s hottest city.
The park will stretch over 400 acres along the sea in a southern suburb of Athens, and as such will be the second-largest city park in Europe. From the first speck of soil, the Ellinikon has been designed to stay moist, green, and cool—come hell or no water.
Planners designed each connecting space in the park to maximize thermoregulation of the air temperature with the goal of keeping it 7.2°F cooler than surrounding asphalt and concrete areas. Simulations on air circulation, average wind direction, evaporation speed, and something called “Computational Fluid Dynamics” provided insight into how every path and plant was placed.
And that’s saying a lot, since the whole of the Ellikon will be covered in 30,000 trees and 3 million smaller plants, with the goal being to include more than 520 species of flora, around three-quarters of which will consist of native or suitably adapted species.
Rest areas are being designed with a shading ratio of more than 60%, while water features like running channels, misting systems, and low-consumption basins will keep the air moist and cool when possible.
If this all seems rather extreme, think again—Athens in the summer is not a nice place.
It was for many years the holder of the World Meteorological Organization record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe with 48.0°C (118.4°F). It was the first city in Europe to appoint a “chief heat officer” to deal with severe heat waves.
Athens is home to double the population of the next 9 largest Greek cities combined, and greenery, as well as space to put it, have been severely lacking. GNN has previously reported on attempts to improve this.
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In 2024, under the mayorship of Haris Doukas, the city began planting its first micro-forest, while greening projects totaling 5,000 trees have occurred in 6 neighborhoods as well as on the famous Acropolis.
These scorching temperatures, when combined with low rainfall, can mean death for plants unsuited to this Mediterranean climate. Ellinikon park has been designed with smart irrigation in mind, and will not only include onsite water treatment facilities to supply the park with non-potable water for its plants, but also a giant rainwater catchment system to feed the water features—the misters and the fountains.
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Designers were able to get first pass at all the leftover materials from the airport infrastructure previously demolished, and Euronews reports they were able to make use of hundreds of tons of concrete slabs and rubble. For the finer details, famous Greek stone: Kavala marble, white Dionysos-Penteli marble, Karystos slate, and Mandras sandstone will ensure the ordered features blend in well with the native ones.
The Ellenikon Park will be opened, it’s planned, to the public next year, with future renovations scheduled for 2030.
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