Pocket Parks Sprouting up in Athens under New Program

Sitting under a birch on a bench made by recycled wood with photovoltaics illuminating the small park after sunset makes everyday life in quarantine a little easier these days for the residents of a neighborhood in Pagrati, central Athens.

Release time : 2021-03-01 19:02:39

source : Xinhua

Sitting under a birch on a bench made by recycled wood with photovoltaics illuminating the small park after sunset makes everyday life in quarantine a little easier these days for the residents of a neighborhood in Pagrati, central Athens.

The pocket park, which was created in an abandoned space that was a garbage plot for years between blocks of flats, is the third one delivered by the City of Athens lately, while at least ten more are lined up in the next few months.

By setting up pocket parks, green spaces of 100-800 square meters in densely populated neighborhoods of the Greek capital, a city with a small proportion of green spaces per citizens, municipal authorities, supported by private donors, aim to bring change through a series of small-scale interventions, Anna Zilakou, managing director of Athens Partnership, told Xinhua in a recent interview at Pagrati's new "green jewel."

The non-profit organization, which promotes partnerships between the private and public sector, assists the City of Athens to secure funding for a series of projects under the "Adopt your City" program, including the mini park initiative.

"The program 'Adopt your city' was launched at the end of 2019 and the goal is to involve residents of Athens and visitors, individuals as well as companies, enterprises, institutions or whoever else is interested to contribute to the city's work and projects and help us improve the quality of life in the city," Zilakou said.

"This is one of the projects that are part of this program. It started last summer. The idea is to create small parks in highly dense areas throughout the city, where there are not enough green spaces. By creating those spaces, we want to improve the quality of life of the neighborhoods and have an environmental and social impact at the same time," she explained.

"The thing is with Athens, as with many big cities around the world, that we don't have large