THE μeta_ATHENS PROJECT
“Athens 3.0, experience the transition.”
We are the μeta_Athenians, and our thing is culture; Aggelos comes from the Literature Universe, Georgia is a Cinema Servant, Yiorgos is a Theatre Lover and Katerina inhabits the World of Art!
In the second semester of our postgraduate program “Cultural Management, Communication and Media” at Panteion University of Athens, on the course “Athens Co-creation City Branding Project”, with Professor Betty Tsakarestou, a virtual co-creation workshop on city branding was carried out. The purpose was to design a communication strategy for our own city, Athens, by using repositioning and design-thinking methods, and with a story-doing approach. Could a new different, diverse and inclusive narrative about the city and its citizens be proposed?
Α holistic approach was chosen; specifically we made a worldwide city mapping and we examined the insights of livable, sustainable, resilient and smart cities. We focused on a few resilient cities of our interest, to be inspired by some good practices implemented by New York City, El Paso, Kyoto, Thessaloniki and Buenos Aires. Then we focused on the stakeholders of Athens; public organizations, investors, companies, citizens etc.
Check our international city mapping at Miro Athens Co-Creation City Branding Board
Check our work at Stakeholders:
As time went on, we applied the acquired knowledge in Athens. Subsequently, we analyzed the existing image of the city from international media, and we examined the social media of the municipality. Finally, we drew personas and we did three in-depth interviews with V. T, co-owner of Threesome Ceramics, H.P., Digital and Innovation Coordinator, Stegi Onassis and S.M, a Start-up employee.
Athens so far…
Athens’ resilience 2030 strategy is based on four pillars, aiming to turn the city into both The Place to visit and The Place to live in; an open, proactive, vibrant, green Athens. Much has already been done. Τhe geography, the climate, the historic and cultural wealth are, undoubtedly, the city’s most powerful assets. In contemporary Athens the human factor (both citizens and visitors) is placed in the center. Issues of safety, health, accommodation/ shelterization, economy and quality time are of utmost importance. Digitalization in the public sector, which has been speeded up due to the covid-19 pandemic, has led to better governance practices and has made transactions with the municipality much easier.
Τhe municipality of Athens has turned to the neighborhoods, and focused on the importance of the locals’ engagement, in order to co-create a better city for the citizens, through initiatives such as Adopt Athens, and activities like the creation of Pocket Parks flourishing throughout the municipality. Furthermore, Athens is Culture, through Athen’s culture net, brings various artists to share their work in spaces scattered in the municipality.
Wishing for a green city, attempts towards restoration of buildings, recreation of open spaces and reduction of traffic and CO2 pollution have been made. A nature — based Athens, focused on climate adaptation with the creation of green corridors, like the one that leads from Lycabettus to Streffi or at Plato’s Academy area. Boosting biodiversity among local species is high on the agenda, together with the provision of more and fresh oxygen to the people. Need to note, the Hellinikon Park Project’s massive contribution to Athen’s pro-environment fight, that will boost green-targeted activities.
While Athens has soared 19 places in the Economist Most Livable Cities’ list, the same cannot be said for the city’s ranking in the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) index. So much more effort should be put in this sector. In thisisathens.org page we can all see the statement that “Athens belongs to the future”. To this direction, synergies with many universities and institutions are promoted. Both the public and the private sector have come to fully realize the need to work together in order to link up with the rest of the world and the need to open to new practices, new visions and ideas for an even more resilient and sustainable city.
“Athens 3.0, experience the transition”
Having studied the current strategy and taking into consideration the internal and external context, here we come, to contribute with our input to the transition to Athens, 3.0. We decided to focus on three strategic pillars: culture, innovation and sustainability-resilience. These three pillars are not mutually exclusive and every pillar is involved in the other two. Our tagline is “Athens 3.0, experience the transition”. Athens is under a constant change, its residents and visitors are not just spectators, but active participants in this formation. Urban evolution is both a personal and a collective experience.
μeta_Culture
Athens 3.0 is the future and we are looking forward to getting there. Our vision is a μeta_city of creators, aparted by you and me, and every citizen, visitor, digital nomad, refugee and person that makes a stop in Athens. Let’s spread the word about the “Athen’s Effect” locally and internationally. Numerous stakeholders are involved in the city’s transition, and various projects are in progress. Luckily the oracle of “New Berlin” has never become true, as Athens has its own glorious past, rich folk art that inspires our contemporary craftsmen (as V., a local ceramist underlined), its own vibrant contemporary art scene, and of course a promising future that combines all! If you haven’t yet experienced Athenian contemporary citizenship, no worries! Εvents by the Hellenic Foundation of Culture will give you a glimpse, and may make you consider relocating to Athens. We already have numerous hubs and synergies (Synathina, This is Athens, Athens Partnership, Impact Hub, Serafio), both private and public, and many cultural partnerships among the stakeholders, but they are never enough!
We need more cultural events to make us know, support and accept each other. Our proactive city already enjoys the engagement with the neighborhoods via Kypseli Municipal Market, and we are thrilled for the upcoming μeta_empowerment-with-the-local-community-of-Patission-street experience: two new projects in progress: Acropole Across and Stoa Matala. Newly rejuvenated public spaces by the generous Neon Organisation initiative, increase the touching points among us, but we need more access to public spaces/buildings for our community events. The cultural, educational and civic engagement programming keeps expanding! Culture is the Trojan Horse that carries the metaverse, that is just a few clicks away. μeta_Athens is loading…
μeta_Economy
A transition to Athens 3.0 requires the creation of a safe path, built on a strong creative economy that is based on technology, innovation and Startup entrepreneurship; a μeta_Economy that will link Athens with the rest of the world, and with the μetaverse future. Living in a creative era, the municipality of Athens along with all stakeholders has already turned the attention towards this direction, through initiatives, partnerships, building stronger networks and investment programs, but more needs to be done. The city’s assets, such as talent, culture and geography lie there for everyone to use and make the most of it.
Undoubtedly, Motivation, Education, Support and Inclusion are four basic pillars upon which the Municipality of Athens can build a stronger economy. Incentives like Athens Digital Lab, strong networks and ecosystems promoted through platforms such as Elevate Greece, attraction of both local and international investors and partnerships with more institutions are just as necessary as a stronger communication program, which will be based on μetaverse (μετά_metaverse!) communication tools and marketing practices. All parties must be well informed about the necessity of including technology and innovation in everyone’s everyday life.
Practices such as the creation of technological parks within the municipality (that will become the centers of technology, innovation and start-up entrepreneurs and the creation of meeting points for innovators and startupers from Athens, Greece and the whole world) meet the demands of all parties. Examples of operating technological parks are TE.S.P.A Lefkippos located in Agia Paraskevi and Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park, while a Technological Park at Agioi Anargyroi region is under construction. However, distance from the center of Athens and poor communication on what these parks can offer, are two obstacles to overcome. More parks of different sizes and various contents should be found in regions at both the center and the outskirts of the municipality of Athens. These projects’ value is not just the enhancement of the technological and innovation sector, but more importantly the contribution to the creation of a sustainable culture of μeta_citizenship and μeta_living.
μeta_Power
Our strategy regarding the Sustainability_Resilience pillar is divided into short-term and long-term goals. Athens should invest in the Energy Sector as the climate change requires more energy consumption and Athens misuses and mismanages its natural resources. Furthermore, the Ukrainian War worsened the World Energy Crisis.
Short-term goals :
● Athens should become a member of Energy Cities. Εnergy Cities represents 1000 cities in 30 countries in matters of energy transition. It is remarkable that Athens is not a member yet. Only Igoumenitsa, Kalamata and Komotini represent Greece.
● Athens should become a member of REPowerEU. REPowerEU is the new mechanism for affordable, secure and sustainable energy for Europe. Athens can conclude energy contracts with neighboring countries.
● Αthens must build the institutional and legal framework for energy cooperatives as in the rest of Europe.
Long-term proposals in a depth of a decade:
● The Athenian bike path should become a solar energy path. We investigated the case of Krommenie in Holland.
● Το turn Elaionas into an Energy Hub. Ιnviting startups and investors adopting green energy systems and renewable microgeneration technology (solar photovoltaic, micro-wind, micro-hydro, hydro-electric facilities, biomass system, heat and energy plants etc). Also adopting a sustainable water management and recycling policy, waste recycling and sustainable nutrition policy.
Αthens should pursue an energy strategy aimed at producing its own energy, returning to citizens.
How can Athens spread the vision?
Our communication strategy for μeta_Athens focuses on media relations, social media development and public engagement. We mean to keep traditional forms of communication such as press releases, press conferences, commercials and posters, as we believe that they have a significant impact on the spread of the message in urban space.
However, upgrading the websites of the municipality and the social media accounts is a necessity in order to reach the universal public (as H.P. from Stegi, Onassis believes). Websites should be easy to use, should be multilingual and should have digital tools that will guide the user in an updated graphic environment. The development of social media for existing and new municipal services contributes to the substantial engagement. Concerning international media, focusing on collaborations with platforms such as Bloomberg and CNN will immediate the publication of municipal actions abroad, and potential visitors will be informed directly and validly.
We suggest the maintenance and renewal of the multiple collaborations of the municipality with public educational institutions for the benefit of the city. In February 2021 the municipality signed a memorandum of cooperation with the University of Peloponnese while in April 2022 Panteion University signed a corresponding agreement with the municipality for actions that will have a direct impact on Athenian society, the environment and the city. Through workshops we would like to expand this established relationship with the ultimate goal of exchanging expertise that will contribute to the promotion of quality policies and initiatives to improve the Municipality of Athens.
We consider it is necessary to maintain the participation of municipal executives in international forums, such as the New York Times Athens Democracy Forum and Delphi Economic Forum. This has a dual benefit both for the public image of each municipal representative and for the strategy dissemination to prestigious international personalities. Finally, our communication strategy includes the use of influencers. We expand the concept and include university professors, companies executives and institutions that are active in our three strategic pillars.
A New Brave World
Athens Co-Creation City Branding course was an interesting journey, trying to extract the substantial insights of a bigger-worldwide city mapping and branding city experience that could be used in order to engrave the city branding of Athens for 2022–2023. Our Media labs research groups are small but very cooperative, as they use the design-thinking methods, and that is why they are flexible, adaptable, and ready for a continuous positioning. Our belief is that city branding consists of endless story-doing and storytelling.
Coming to our μeta_Athens branding story, we are looking forward to your feedback and listening to your story; after all You are the most important stakeholder. Stay tuned for the visualisation of our μeta_Athenian campaign!
*μeta_Athens is a team of μeta_culture, μeta_innovative, μeta_power and μeta_creative postgraduate students at Panteion University. Arora Angelos, Chatzi Katerina, Diamantopoulos Yorgos and Katsiri Georgia tried to re-invent Athens and its branding strategy with the remarkable and valuable guidance of Professor Betty Tsakarestou.
