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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-05-24
CONTENTS
[01] Park life: a day for dwindling urban greenspace
[01] Park life: a day for dwindling urban greenspace
A rare oasis in a sea of urban cement, the 'Antonis Tritsis
Environmental Awareness' park in Ilion is one of the few open spaces
that remain in west Athens, whose neighbourhoods are among the most
built-up in a city with just 2.5 square metres of greenspace per
resident, one of the lowest per capital greenspace allocations in
Europe.
According to the European Environmental Bureau, by contrast, a per
capita greenspace allocation of 10 square metres is considered
'tolerable'.
The 'Antonis Tritsis' park pictured here and others throughout Europe
are being celebrated this Sunday, which has been established as
European Day of Parks since 1999.
The Europarc Federation has in recent years urged city-dwellers
throughout Europe to take a stroll around the few remaining urban
greenspaces in their countries, in order to highlight the importance
and necessity of these small natural habitats.
In Athens, apart from a handful of official parks, the open spaces that
have escaped developed are usually water courses, extremely steep hills
and archaeological sites. Experts stress that these act as havens for a
host of birds and animals, making them 'urban' habitats of huge social
value.
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