The suburban landscape west of Thessaloniki; encounters with a Sleeping Beauty

In the quest for comprehensive planning, the LD104 course embarked a project for the suburban region west of Thessaloniki. 20 students and 4 tutors worked closely in order to identify major driving factors shaping a landscape unfolded as an amalgam of a former marshland, agriculture, an avian species sanctuary entitled Axios Delta National Park, a vibrant social fabric of numerous human settlements,  inactive and active industry, mobility networks etc. Numerous encounters with this ‘sleeping beauty’ shattered our initial preconceptions of a potential recreational land, as the vast expanse of the site revealed a realm far more profound. A landscape that has been shaped spatiotemporally not by top-down strategic planning but rather of numerous acts of decision making of different scales, difference stakeholders and intensives. The thoughts interwoven within our minds was to support  the rural character, foster local community identities through sustainable economic growth, raising awareness about the wetland habitat and introduce subtle recreation for city denizens. Students worked firstly as one united team for an extended period of time on landscape analysis that lead to a master plan of the area and afterwards they deepened on design detail for 6 landscape units. The 6 months period of study taught profound lessons; you can’t just ‘box’ and ‘offer’, encapsulate the vitality and intricacy of such a living landscape within a predefined framework of a rigid masterplan, as planning takes time and deep understanding of the terrain.  Should one wake this sleeping beauty, through introducing weekend tourists, while avoiding the banality that plagues so many Mediterranean tourist destinations? Should it be left to the 250 bird species as a sanctuary? Could a high-tech, precision agricultural landscape revitalize its essence? How we stop the relentless concrete urban fabric city taker over the green land?  All the above mentioned present a very relevant debate and the continuous process of learning, should guide us toward the most vital question of all: How shall this valley to the west of Thessaloniki define itself for future generations.