Piraeus

The Mediterranean basin was a multicultural region with a great diversity of linguistic, religious, social, and ethnic groups. This dynamic social and cultural landscape encouraged extensive contact and exchange among different communities. This book seeks to explain what happened when different ethnic, social, linguistic, and religious groups, among others, came into contact with each other. What means did they employ to mediate their interactions? How did each group construct distinct identities while interacting with others? What new identities came into existence because of these contacts? Denise Demetriou brings together several strands of scholarship that have emerged recently, especially ethnic, religious, and Mediterranean studies. It reveals new aspects of identity construction in the region examining the Mediterranean as a whole and focuses not only on ethnic identity but also other types of collective identities, such as civic, linguistic, religious, and social identities.

Nell’ambito del convegno su Atene e la Magna Grecia (SAIA 2006) l’Autore ha presentato riflessioni sul Pireo, costruzione urbana che gioca un ruolo fondamentale nel processo identitario di Atene tra VI e V secolo a.C. dal momento che il suo impianto e le sue trasformazioni hanno segnato il destino della principale città dell'Attica. Nel contributo è posta attenzione alle fasi iniziali, quindi all’atto di nascita del porto la cui costruzione segna una vera e propria svolta nella politica militare e commerciale della città, e sono esaminati i dati archeologici più recenti al fine di proporre la restituzione di un impianto che le fonti attribuiscono ad Ippodamo di Mileto. L’Autore, infine, prende in considerazione anche la documentazione letteraria ed epigrafica per affrontare il problema della cronologia dell’intervento ippodameo nonché le caratteristiche e l’ubicazione della(e) agora(i) del Pireo.

In addition to the important role of the ports in maritime industries, these transportation centers have received new attention towards development of the hinterland. Particularly, the ports could capture a greater share of added value by favoring the development of their surrounding in order to accommodate not only the full complement of services required for the maintenance and repair, but also the assembly units and freight distribution hubs. Thus, the subject of this paper deals with the topic of harbors and their intersection with the urban core of the city they territorially belong. In a narrow sense, this paper aims at evaluating current conditions for integrated spatial and transport development, considering the ports and the inland railway connection. The case study for this research is the port of Piraeus and its relation to the surrounding urban pattern. The main reason behind choosing Piraeus is the integral connection of the port city to the Greek capital, as well as recent transformation of the harbor in the international context. Considering the external interferences to induce the mass-transit freight and passenger transportation, neither the port city of Piraeus nor Athens is prepared for the urban transformation according to the principles of transport-oriented development (TOD). Hence, the central focus of the paper deals with the thorough analysis of the present spatial problems, possibilities and values in the Piraeus port and its direct surrounding, which further supports intervention on the nodal level. Research methodology consists of several steps. Firstly, since this paper is part of an extensive research project investigating the potentials of Athens agglomeration in terms of future spatial and infrastructural development, the data based on the field research will be analyzed. Secondly, the overview of existing documents (primary and secondary sources) on both spatial and transport development in the city of Athens will be critically analyzed. The paper concludes with the critical overview of the present state regarding TOD in the port of Piraeus (i.e. Rotterdam of the south), as well as basic recommendations for its future development, mainly aiming to respond to a dynamic of self-organizing governance in forging a new conceptual basis for long-term strategic partnership.