MUNICIPALITIES: 125 PRACTICES
The Municipality of Hellinikon - Argyroupoli is a municipality in the region of Attica. It has a population of 51,330 inhabitants, an area of 15.7 sq. km. and is the 62nd largest municipality in Greece. The City Hall is located at L. Cyprus 68 in Argyroupoli.
More information: https://www.elliniko-argyroupoli.gr/
Living Streets is a project that allows interested Municipalities to temporarily transform a street in their city, of their choice, into the sustainable place they have always envisioned. The project seeks to create – transform a road or pedestrian path into a central point for the gathering of citizens, available for playgrounds, picnics, local markets, etc.
The vision of our Municipality was through the project "closing" a central street of our city, to give the opportunity to our citizens and especially to the young children, to experience the human face of our city and even more of their neighborhood. Transmitting images and feelings of elders to youth. Carefree, play, safety, communication, laughter, enjoyment, education.
This project is addressed to all our citizens as it allowed our Municipality to transform a street in our city into a social hub, accessible to everyone.
September 12-22, 2021 Duration: 11 days
The daily program of events of "Living Streets" included (19:00-22:00):
- Traditional street games /Snake, Leap, Rope, Rubber, Relay Races, Sack Races, Apples, Petanque
- Construction games and creative activities Ecological game: "The steps of the Earth" Children's constructions and activities: "The forest is green again" / Constructions with recycled materials: "The music of nature"
- Information about the stray animals of our Municipality,
- "Little Firefighters" information on forest firefighting and environmental protection,
- "We Dress a Tree" knitting tutorial,
- Reading a fairy tale,
- Recycling Actions,
- Painting "I dream of my city"
-The action of "Living Streets" closed with a fantastic "Color War".
Hundreds of young children and parents had fun, played and created for ten days in the National Resistance Square in Elliniko.
Joyful children's voices filled the square reminding the elders of their childhood when city neighborhoods were full of children playing carefree.
The young children played with traditional street games, became "Little Firemen", listened to traditional tales from the grandmothers, learned about stray animals and how we should protect them, drew the city of their dreams, read books, played board games, had fun and danced.
Ten magical and carefree days reminding all of us of the children's need for play, company and creativity.
After all, young people today have an ecological interest more than any other generation. By participating in such actions, young people mainly achieve what they achieve is to form an ecological consciousness within themselves and much more to somehow change the environmental culture by making the character of their city sustainable. Such initiatives raise awareness and activate society and give the message of political and social participation from an early age.
Section of "Chrysanthou Trebizontos" street from Iasonidou St. to Athanasiou Diakou, Ethniki Antistaseos Square & Adjacent Pedestrian Street, Sourmenou Square, Elliniko
The experiment has already been developed with great success in Ghent, Belgium, while other European cities have been inspired by it and adapted it to their own local context. The European Program "Living Streets and Citizen Engagement in local energy and climate projects", is financed by the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) through the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety - BMU).
The Sustainable City is responsible for the implementation of the project in Greece, published a call for interest, in which the Municipality of Ellinikos-Argyroupolis applied for funding and was selected to be funded with the amount of €20,000 to implement the project.
It is worth noting that the Municipality of Hellinikon-Argyroupoli and another municipality are the only ones that managed to obtain the highest rating and qualify throughout Greece for the implementation of the action. The selection was made following an evaluation of the proposals by the SUSTAINABLE CITY, in collaboration with the European Network ENERGY CITIES (project coordinator) and in an open meeting together with the other European Partners (Decision on Incorporation: 946/11.12.2020)
-the "Sustainable City" Network
-the Elliniko-Argyroupoli Volunteer Corps
- the Voluntary Forest Protection Firefighting Team of the Municipality of Hellinikon Argyroupoli
- the Philozoic Intervention of Hellinikon-Argyroupoli
- the Women's Movement of Hellinikon-Argyroupoli
By transforming a neighborhood of our Municipality into a sustainable neighborhood, the participants were given the opportunity to escape from the city, gain other experiences, renew their relationship with it, enriching their daily life and making it more tolerable and sustainable.
The Athens Observatory installed a station measuring microparticles and atmospheric data in the square where they recorded a reduction in CO, NO2, O3, PM 2.5 emissions.
By participating in a multitude of different actions, which is an example of real participation of the city's communities, the relations of the citizens of all ages who took part are strengthened.
Participation in the program for young children contributes to the promotion of the active citizen, who learns to be interested in others, in "us", experiences that he belongs somewhere and cares for the whole to which he belongs. He understands experientially what it is like to act with a vision for himself and for a more sustainable city.
