Athens is transforming its old airport into Europe's second-largest city park, with 70% green cover, on-site wastewater treatment and furniture made from demolished airport concrete and asphalt

A former airport in Athens is now the site of one of the continent's most ambitious urban greening projects. Called the Ellinikon Park, the planned project will not only add an unforgettable attraction to the city but also provide 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 will be the second-largest city park and largest coastal urban park in Europe, as per a report by Euronews. A sustainable initiativeThe park is the subject of a guide to designing and operating sustainable green spaces, authored by landscape architect Dimitra Theochari and UNEP Global Chief Heat Officer Lenio Myrivili, who also acts as a Special Advisor for Climate Resilience. It is also directly connected to a two-kilometre seafront.Planners have aimed to keep the place moist, green and cool from the very foundation. They have designed each connecting space to maximise 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. This led to the design of a network of "cool routes" that is planned, where the temperature can be up to four degrees Celsius lower than in neighbouring asphalted areas.Moreover, Ellinikon will be covered in 30,000 trees and 3 million smaller plants with the goal of including more than 520 species of flora, around three-quarters of which will consist of native or suitably adapted species. Vegetation is also being used to enhance evapotranspiration and improve thermal comfort conditions.Other areas are being designed with a sharing 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. The park is being designed with smart irrigation in mind and will include on-site water treatment facilities with a capacity of 7,000 cubic metres of treated water per day, to supply the park with non-potable water for its plants. Rainwater will be managed through green and blue infrastructure, with the aim of handling 100 per cent of it on site. At the same time, the restoration of natural flows is being pursued, such as that of the Trachones stream, which will play an important role as flood-protection infrastructure. It will also have a storage tank holding 10,000 cubic metres as well as a 'smart' irrigation system that can save 90% of water.Designers were able to get the first pass at all the leftover materials from the airport infrastructure previously demolished and Euronews reports that they were able to make use of hundreds of tons of concrete slabs and rubble. Concrete slabs are being used to build retaining walls, plinths and other structural elements, while crushed aggregates will be used in gabions and backfills, thereby reducing the construction's environmental footprint. 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. They have been chosen both for their durability and contribution to thermal comfort, and to ensure the park blends harmoniously into the Attic landscape.To grasp its size, Ellinikon far surpasses some of the continent's most iconic historic parks. It is 40 per cent larger than London's Hyde Park (142 hectares), and is almost on a par with Berlin's vast Tiergarten (210 hectares). Ellinikon will be almost seven times larger than Brussels' Parc du Cinquantenaire (30 hectares).Even when set against New York's world-famous Central Park (341 hectares), which is about 1.7 times bigger, Ellinikon stands as a project of comparable global scale.Relief for AthensAthens held the World Meteorological Organisation record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe for years, which is why these measures seem purposeful and hopeful. 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. In 2024, under the mayoralty of Haris Doukas, the city began planting its first micro-forest, while greening projects totalling 5,000 trees have occurred in 6 neighbourhoods as well as on the famous Acropolis.Now, the park marks another effort to keep the city cool and relieved. It will be opened to the public next year with future renovations scheduled for 2030.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.