Thessaloniki: The changing geography of the city and the role of spatial planning

Abstract

Thessaloniki has existed for over twenty-three centuries. Today it is the second largest city in Greece after Athens. This City Profile aims to identify and present the milestones in the city's development trajectory and give an overview of the evolution and the planning of the city. After a summary of the historical development of Thessaloniki, emphasis is given to the period after 1990s. Lately, the fiscal and refugee crises hitting the country have changed the urban geography of the city, challenging its sustainability and questioning its future development. At the same time the planning and management system of the city face the overfragmentation and semi-implementation of the plans, the chronic lack of a clear vision for the city's development and the downgrading of the role of strategic spatial planning within the current context of recession. The adoption of a really radical resilience policy along with the reconsideration and redefinition of planning principles and content seems to be the only option for Thessaloniki to track its development trajectory.