Heraklion: ‘From the City with Walls to the Walls City’
A BABLE Podcast Write-up
Prefer to read about the key highlights of the conversation that we had with Yiannis Anastasakis about the transformation of the city of Heraklion in the second episode of Smart in the City — the BABLE Podcast? Dig in!
“So we have started to build a puzzle. We have this large new network for pedestrians within the city on the way. I think we will have completed the project by the end of next May and that’s something really very good for us. But it’s not the project that I admire… it’s the change of the attitude of the people”- Yiannis Anastasakis.
In the third episode of the Smart in the City — the BABLE podcast, host Tamlyn Shimizu sat down with Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Heraklion, Greece, Yiannis Anastasakis to discuss the transformation that the city had for the past 20 years, the projects aiming to bring the famous landmark of The Venetian Walls of Heraklion back into the daily life of its inhabitants, as well as mobility, resilience, and urban planning.
From “Most Ugly City In Greece” to “A City Under Transformation”
Let’s hear straight from Yiannis Anastasakis on how he would describe the city 20 years ago- “I will give you an idea about how the city of Heraklion looked 20 years ago. The stereotype was close to reality and I must say that it was the most ugly city in Greece. But it has an explanation. It had a sudden development, financial development, many people rushed to inhabit Heraklion… but no urban planning, no building licences, and we had a chaotic situation with lacking infrastructure and too many people gathering, like a flood.”
The Olympic Games that were held in Athens, Greece in 2004 helped to initiate the transformation of the city of Heraklion. Due to the Olympic Games, Heraklion was included in some of the big infrastructure projects, and this triggered the total change of the city in many innovative ways. It led to the rehabilitation of the public buildings and the upgrade of the city’s infrastructures. Yiannis Anastasakis states that he doesn’t think there’s another city that went through such dramatic change in the last 20 years in Greece, and is happy that they have found a good pace and that things are still changing for the better.
Yiannis Anastasakis And His Baby Project: Rehabilitation Of The Venetian Walls of Heraklion
The Venetian Walls are a series of defensive walls and other fortifications which surround the city and are spread over 35 hectares. The Venetian Walls play multiple roles: it’s the biggest green area in the municipality, a landmark that can attract tourism interest, and it also is an important part of the city’s history.
The main idea behind the rehabilitation is to bring the open spaces closer to the people. The city received 15 million euros for the project, and this was invested towards reshaping the city with a focus on making the everyday life of the people easier and healthier.
A pathway of 3.5 kilometres for running and biking, which goes up to the top of the monument with an extensive view of the city was built. Every open space on the walls is dedicated to a different story, to the people, to the music, to the people of the mainland, to the historic relationship with the city to the sea, and to the great author Nikos Kazantzakis who was buried near the walls.
Furthermore, there is a belt outside the city wall which was left intentionally without any trees or buildings for defensive reasons. This open space was dedicated to tennis, basketball, running and playgrounds so as to bring the children closer to the monument. Projects were put forth to restore the damaged monuments and areas, to make the monument safer for people. The closed area of the walls will be dedicated to the history of the walls and the city of Heraklion, and the smaller part of the closed area will be made into a museum of the resistance of Cretans during World War II.
“There is a motto that we want to accompany our effort. We want to change from The City With Walls to The Walls City. We want this monument to define the city of Heraklion, because it’s so important to us and it wasn’t logical that this thing was not part of the inhabitants.” — Yiannis Anastasakis
Tackling the water scarcity in Heraklion
Heraklion aims to plant trees and make the city greener. But the city also suffers from water shortage. In what ways can this issue be addressed?
The city aims to bring Circular Economy in water usage. Discussions are underway with local universities in deciding on the treatment of nearby wastewater and using the same to irrigate the tress of the Venetian walls.
Flip The Script: Our Guest Is Asking The questions!
In the fun segment of the podcast, our guest Yiannis Anastasakis was given the opportunity to ask a question to our host Tamlyn Shimizu. Tune in to the full podcast episode to know how Tamlyn responded to the question:
What are the basic advantages and disadvantages of living in a more organized city in Germany?
In the comment section, let us know your take on this question from the city you are living at!
Interested In Knowing More About The City Of Heraklion?
Do listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about the fruitful and fun discussions that we had on-
- Yiannis’s take on one thing that most people don’t know about Greece.
- What are the advantages of visiting urban planning projects in person?
- What are the difficulties of collaborating with different parties in the public sector?
- Why is it difficult to undertake a project in Greece?
- Recommendations for Mayors or Project Managers undertaking similar projects.
- How did Tamlyn respond to our ‘Flip the Script’ segment? And how did Yiannis respond to it?
- And our ending question, ‘To you, what is a Smart City’?
And if you are reading (or listening) as a representative of a city or network, we’d love to have you join us on a future episode. Reach out to our host Tamlyn Shimizu with your interest.
And for even more insights, join our Smart City community
Want to read more about Smart City implementations? Find them on the BABLE platform!
Make sure to also take a look at our other Medium articles, and always feel free to reach out to us for any inquiry.
