CHAPTER TWO: URBAN PLANNING AND REVOLT
Population density and metropolitan areas, in 1,000 residents/km2. a shop, a warehouse, a restaurant, a workshop, a supermarket, a café, a bar, or even a garage. At the same time, because Athens only has a few public spaces and very narrow streets, these housing blocks absorb the city within them and in turn empty out their interior to the city (Woditsch 2009). Private and public life interact in its hallways, its balconies and façades. Flags hanging over balconies, scribbles on walls, stickers in elevators, slogans on walls—multiple signs of communication transforming the impersonal shell of the building into a dynamic living organism that constantly beats, yells, makes a multitude of noises, falls in love, and quarrels. PUBLIC SPACES: STREETS
Green spaces in the city of Athens measure 2.5 m2 per inhabitant, whereas in most European cities13 the figure exceeds 15 m2 per inhabitant. The largest part of public space in the city is its most authentic form—that is, the street. Streets as public spaces are alive for 24 hours a day, as the mixture of multiple uses permits and promotes such a situation. The street is a place of open-air trade, meeting, finding a job, and so on—while, of course, it is also the prime site of protest. During the past fifteen years, nearly 500 demonstrations have taken place in the city annually.14 Urban planning in Athens is
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