Socio-Spatial Inequalities, and Local Struggles for the Right to the City and to Nature—Cases of Urban Green Parks in Athens

Abstract

In this paper we hypothesize that the practices that prevailed during the pandemic period in relation to the right to parks were related to traditional urban discriminatory policies that need to be changed. We also argue that, in some cases, the residents themselves treated the parks as common living spaces by protecting them from neoliberal grabbing policies that deprive residents of greenery and infringe on the right to the city and to nature. With this in mind, we proceeded with research on the city of Athens. We investigated two urban green parks, the first was “Lofos Philopappou”, which is one of the most important parks in the city, as it is one of the largest green spaces in the city center and includes some of the most important ancient monuments. The second park was “Antonis Tritsis”, which is the largest park in Athens Metropolitan Area and one of the few high green spaces in the western suburbs. In the framework of this study, we investigated the attitudes and the actions of visitors and groups regarding these parks, the urban social movements, and local struggles and initiatives that are active in the public green parks, together with participation through the commons. We also investigated management policies and attempts to privatize them. The research methods that were used were participant observation in the studied parks, semi-structured interviews with people or groups that used the public urban green parks on a regular basis, noting the narratives they produced, and questionnaires given to visitors who actively used the urban parks. In conclusion, policies implemented within public parks were found to prevent the integration of public green spaces in the daily lives of residents and the active participation of residents in decisions concerning the green extensions of their neighborhoods. In this way, a part of society is deprived of the ability to maintain continuous contact with nature and green parks.