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Athens, Greece is a European city with a very long history. The area has been continuously inhabited for more than 7,000 years and provides an example of early urbanization in the ancient world. The city of Athens reached its ‘Golden Age’ during the 5th century B.C. with over 300,000 residents, minted its own coins and had banks, public services and land use planning. With time, Athens declined as a city through the Middle Ages and the Ottoman occupation, reaching a population minimum of less than 5,000 by mid- 19th century. It became the capital city of Modern Greece in 1833 and started growing again, experiencing a rapid population increase and urban sprawl, especially after the arrival of Greek refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s and the extensive internal migration that took place after World War II.
Today, the urban area of Athens (Greater Athens and Greater Piraeus) with a population around 3,000,000 over an area of 412 sq. km concentrates about one third of the Greek population, as well as a major part of the economic and commercial activities of the whole country. Unlike most European capitals, the urbanization of modern Athens was not related to the Industrial Revolution.
Watch the video and enjoy a tour of contemporary Athens city on roller blades!
Future plans for the development and transformation of the city center included the implementation of the controversial architectural project "Rethink Athens". The project that would be launched in 2016 is now postponed due to lack of economic resources. To get a taste of the proposed project watch the video: