The metropolitan area of Athens is an extensive and densely populated area that brings together most of the country’s inhabitants and the main economic and administrative activities. The capital’s urban landscape has been defined for decades by a building pattern dominated by buildings and hard surfaces (mainly asphalt). Open and green spaces and even more so water surfaces (excluding the sea) cover a very small percentage of the city.
Yet water points in our city exist!
There are places we can visit and discover the water element either visible or hidden. These places with symbolic, historical, mythological or even physical presence influence and give context to the urban environment and the relationship of citizens with it. Streams and their estuaries, natural wetlands (they exist even within the city center!), lakes and other natural or artificial elements with a constant or seasonal flow of water exist, often even within the city’s densely populated neighborhoods.
Image 1. The National Garden. Sketch created for the Atlas of Mediterranean Liquidity. Source: commonspace
As part of the call for the Atlas of Mediterranean Liquidity, commonspace in collaboration with the Goethe Institute participated in a collective research around the identification of water points in Athens with symbolic, natural, cultural, environmental or historical value for everyday life in the city. In the context of the project, sketches were created, an extensive research on the biodiversity, history and collective memory was carried out by experts. Finally, all the points were placed on an interactive map open to the public. In addition, walks with interested members of the public around water routes in the city were organized as part of the project.
This Virtual Fieldtrip is based on the Mediterranean Liquidity Atlas and provides an educational aspect including a brief historical overview of the water element in the city and guidelines for researchers that want to detect and map water spots in other cities. It encourages students, educators or everyone interested in studying the relationship between urban environment and water element to walk around, sketch and map scenes of water in their daily life. The VFT gives guidelines on how to search and map the water spots in a neighborhood/district/city.
The Storymap is developed in the following parts:
- Water in Athens: A brief historical review
- Categories of the liquid element in the Athenian urban context
- Map tours regarding the different typologies of water in the city:
- Places in the city with artificial water features
- Places in the city with natural water features
- Places in the city with historical water features
- Concluding thoughts and online form that can be used by students or researchers for water scenes and spots mapping.
Check the Virtual Field Trip here: https://arcg.is/0bC1a4
Image 2. Well of the Hadrian Aqueduct in El Alamein Street, Halandri. Source: commonspace
Image 3. The fountain of Chaseki, at the Agricultural University. Source: commonspace
