Workshop 33 ECOWEEK 2011, Thessaloniki, Greece

Workshop in collaboration with Technische Universität Berlin on "Energy, Climate, and Culture in EcoUrban Design: Towards a Greek Sustainable Urban Quarter in Thessaloniki’s Harbour". The TU Berlin/EcoCityLab workshop was associated with two postdoctoral fellows at TU Berlin, M. Reza Shirazi (Dr.-Ing.) who researches on cultural sustainability and Somayeh Falahat (Dr. des.) who works on sustainable architectonic prototypes.

"The reality of global environmental degradation, depletion of natural resources, climate change and the upcoming energy crisis triggered by future scarcity of inexpensive oil demands a radical reorganization of the way we live in, and design, cities. However, the scale of intervention in such urban restructuring is still unclear. Although we know that all scales, from the regional to the individual building, must be re-thought, it seems that the first unit of intervention at the urban design scale is the urban quarter (or ‘urban block’). The first premise of this rationale is the assumption that if the urban quarter is environmentally sustainable -- i.e. it is medium-density, has mixed-land uses, produces its own energy and food, and recycles and reuses its own wastewaters and organic waste -- it is easier to ‘reproduce’ to form a sustainable neighbourhood, then a sustainable urban district and, eventually, a sustainable city. The second premise is that older European quarters also need to be retrofitted to form part of a sustainable city. However, while the programmatic requirements of the quarter (systems to grow food, to recycle water, to produce energy, etc.) may be similar across different geographical contexts, the cultural and climatic dimensions must respond to the local conditions. To test the above premises, the TU Berlin/EcoCityLab ECOWEEK 2011 Workshop aimed to develop an urban quarter in the seafront of Thessaloniki as a self-reliant urban unit in terms of energy, food, drinking water, and management of organic waste, but reflecting the architectural/urbanistic heritage, social traditions, and cultural mores of Thessaloniki’s society. And, of course, embodying the highest aesthetic principles or architectural, landscape, and urban design. This workshop aimed on one hand to respond to the wish of the Municipality of Thessaloniki to develop its seafront in a sustainable way, and on the other to urge visionary ideas!" (From the Workshop brief)