This research refers to the greek public space, focusing on the Historical Centre of Athens. The main observation is the desertification of the city’s central squares. Their inability to evoke interest for social interaction and participation derives from a general degradation of everything public.
The research is organized in three sections. In the first section, we examine the transformations that the public space has undergone since its birth, in order to outline the factors that have led to its failure.
In the second section, we trace the merely greek pathogenies of the athenian public space that deprive the square of its social role in the everyday life of the city.
In the final section, having identified the factors that inhibit the function of public space as a ‘condenser of social activities’, we investigate how they are reflected in the case of Klafthmonos square.