Social forces, urban growth and town planning: evolving visions from a contemporary metropolis

Long-term urban expansion in a contemporary European metropolis has been investigated in this study by interpreting the overall vision and the practical objectives of subsequent strategic master plans approved for the urban area of Athens, the Greek capital, in the aftermath of World War II. Diverging town planning orientations over time in Athens have reflected the slow evolution towards a less compact and mono-centric spatial asset, typical of several Mediterranean cities. By indirectly sustaining (or tolerating) informal housing, sequential master plans in Athens, at least until the late 1980s, have progressively incorporated discontinuous or isolated settlements in the consolidated urban fabric, creating a mixed city model suspended in-between compactness and dispersion. The study finally argues how this model is a result of multiple social forces competing in the urban arena