This is Athens: A free-flowing City, hub of engaging communities
During Academic year 2017–2018, while studying towards an MA in Cultural Management at Panteion University and under the lead of Professor Betty Tsakarestou, our tutor in Cultural Marketing & Communication and project initiator of the Athens Co-Creation City Branding Project, we were challenged to discuss issues regarding paths towards a sustainable and resilient city. In our final article, following our presentations of the Business model Canvas at Serafio Sports and Innovation Centre, we had to bring together the insights we gained throughout the academic term and conclude: This is Athens! as a strategic plan.
An overview of the 7 articles written during this journey towards eventually uttering a proposal for “This is Athens!”:
- I set off to the exploratory journey at the beginning of the academic term by looking at official data provided by the UN as an attempt to investigate the global trends for cities. UN Goal 11: Setting the global scene:Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient
- I continued my investigation by looking at the Greek participation in the Sustainability discussion, focusing on the city. Goal 11 in focus: National Implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- To give a greater insight, our research involved looking at the newly re-established Serafio Sports, Cultural and Innovation Centre of the Municipality of Athens. Serafio: 21st century facilities for the individual and an innovative, co-working space for all
- We also case-studied Athens Impact Hub as well as the Capital’s first synergy of social entrepreneurship between civic society, private stakeholders and the Municipality of Athens: Kypseli Municipal Market. Impact Hub Athens: Creating connections between people and meaningful content locally & internationally
- My contribution to the discussion about City Indexes focused on the case studies of 3 major South African cities in relation to the City Brand Index CBI and the impact of technology on people’s lives. The City Brand Index (CBI) for South Africa & the Smart City Challenge: A way to rise S.A. cities in the CBI Index?
- The next step involved looking at Athens’ potential and challenges as a resilient city. The City Resilience Index: Where does Athens fit in?
- Today's final article is the combination of an overview, the Business Canvas’ key elements and an overall proposition of what is Athens: A free-flowing City, hub of engaging communities
To begin with, why do cities take the lead? Leaving under globalization means free-flowing movement in many countries, especially those which share the same currency and within the E.U. where legislation, common language acquisition and cultural barriers are diminished. At the same time, IT advancements have promoted city branding either by state, private or consumer-based internet information outreach. Social Media in particular, offered endless possibilities of networking and exchange of views, comments, recommendations. Therefore, a National Branding is not enough: Cities have to take the lead of their own branding. In order for that to be accomplished, small or bigger scale projects have to be put in place, regenerating the rapidly expanding urban environment, fostering cultural inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic development.
Each of the steps of our research served a distinctive purpose. We came across the various City Indexes to understand what makes a city a place people want to live. At a micro level, we had the opportunity to discuss two of the city’s major cultural stakeholders in the area of innovation and hear about the challenges of Serafio Sports and Innovation Centre (Matina Magou) and Impact Hub (Dimitris Kokinakis) from the insiders point of view. We also interviewed some other key stakeholders namely,Tina Pandi (National Museum of Contemporary Art), Nikos Leandros (Panteion Unoversity and Sygrou Network Initiator, Xenia Kaldara (Mihalis Cakoyanis Foundation) perhaps to conclude that collective vision, strategic planning and cross-sectional collaboration that involves all players-the public and the stakeholders- together with the adoption of more flexible organizational structures is a key element of a contemporary city.
Using the Value Preposition Canvas and the Business Canvas as a whole , being part of Design thinking methodology, helped us break down the various aspects that change makers take into account when planning. Here are some key notes from the presentation:
Pains: Luck of: vision, strategy,coordination that results to low public trust.
Poor collaborative attitude, resistance to sharing, vested stakeholder interests.
High risk, cost, time investment in exchange of often poor quality services and quality of life.
Pain relievers: Unified networks to overcome bureaucracy, simplification of processes and transparency, access to high-value data, access to funds, access to info exchange platforms.
Gains: A culturally vibrant city . An authentic city via the creation of collective identity and memory. A social cohesive city which celebrates diversity of values and beliefs. Urban agriculture, parks and green spaces as air quality guarantors. Flexibility and easy mobility.
Customers jobs: Reduce time,cost, effort, risk , conflict when trying to get something done.
Value prepositions: Social Value: Security and safety, Civic pride, social integration. Economic Value: Attract human resources, entrepreneurship and innovation, increase business potential ,enhance ICT and e-government, promote transparency and open data, reduce the need for public expenses on health as citizens will have a better overall well-being. Environmental Value: Reduce air, water and noise pollution, increase sustainable energy consumption and decrease waste.
Products and services: co-creation opportunities , know-how sharing, open access to success stories, networking opportunities for all, including the elderly, the disabled, the poor.
Key Partners include: The EU, the Airport, the Pireus Port, the Municipality of Athens, key Private and Public Stakeholders (such as Onasis Foundation, Niarhos Foundation, Technopolis, Innovathens, The Impact Hub),universities, private enterprises, Ministries, the Chamber of Commerce.
Costumer Relationships: Trust, Croudsourcing, co-creation, recommendations.
Channels: The Web, citizens initiatives, urban planning, key partners, evaluation and feedback
Revenue Streams: Tailor-made project fees for design, guidance and supervising. Pop up store rentals (short term), Space rentals (for lectures, workshops), membership support fees, volunteers.
Athens today, should involve participatory processes and decision-making, stakeholder support and commitment to change, a “stable” city, free of political or other crisis, which is able to provide technological and financial resources that would add value to the people’s experience, whether living or visiting it. Benchmarking with other cities is essential as it can be used as an initial assessment to help the city formulate its own collective vision of where it would like to be in the future, implement, evaluate and constantly reshape the strategies that will bring the next urban regeneration needed. The later, always being the output of a free-flowing City, hub of engaging communities, characterized by openness to diversity of opinion and the value of synergies. To me,this is Athens.
