This urban design project is about urban agriculture on Strefis Hill, in Exarhia, Athens.

 

Strefis is a small hill surrounded by a neighbourhood of high density. It used to be a quarry, but today it is planted, with paths, a small theater, a playground, a cafe and some sport facilities. It is an important green landmark for this part of Athens and it has an excellent overall view of the city. However, due to the geomorphology, the bad maintenance by the municipality and its bad reputation for illegal actions, make the hill seem rather abandoned.

 

At the same time, the community in Exarhia is politically sensitive and very active and tries to face the problems of the financial crisis with organizations based on solidarity and self-management.

Our idea was to design the hill as a place for urban agriculture, in which the local community will be involved and the crops could even expand on the terraces of the adjacent buildings. In this way the citizens will take care of the hill, co-operate and support each other, working close to the nature.

 

The design on the hill includes the places for the plantations, outdoor sitting rooms for breaks, small warehouses and a system for collecting rain-water. There is also a square with an excellent view where are placed the headquarters of the project and the a restaurant for the participants, especially the ones with low income. 

Ensuring that the project would be realisable was one of our main concerns. Such a project would be promoted in the neighbourhood by the exisent self-organised collective unions as well as new ones, and the hole city. So we choose some important places and install there special info-points for whoever wants to get informed or participate in the project. The info-points are designed so as to move anywhere in the city and there are two types of them. A smaller one, where people can get information and at the same time load their electronic devices, and a bigger one where they can  chat with some of the participants and taste the products.