As the four urban regeneration areas take shape and the building sites proceed in their making, the pathways and development trajectories of the initial layouts evolve into something different. Bureaucratic and administrative issues, the interaction with a variety of technical perspectives, unexpected conditions found on the sites and unpredictable findings laying underground for centuries, intercept and condition the construction process, causing deviations and detours from the initial plans. Producing at times generative effects, framing delays, stops and corrections in the urban design process, can offer a good perspective to retrospectively frame critical issues under a different light.
On site
The contract signature with the winning bidder took place in early February 2023, and from May on the building sites officially started. Operating under the responsibility of the contractor (Tekal), the building process takes advantage of the support of the technical departments of the City of Halandri, and of the consultancy of TPA. After the first phases in which building sites were prepared and needed demolition took place, the intense part of the building process took over, with the excavation works in the El Alamein street area (the most complex one, and the one hosting the most relevant portions of the Hadrian Aqueduct to be incorporated in the new design), in Kodrou area (the one hosting the large new water tank, serving the water trucks) and along Gyftopoulou street (including in the building site the Remathia river banks). Being the site along Eptanisou Street the least complex, its construction started later (and are actually entering their most intense operational phase).
The Eptanisiou street building site
The excavation works, digging approximately 5 to 6 meters deep in the proximity of the old Hadrian reservoir, brought to life unknown built structures: at the end of July 2023 a decision was made by the Ephorate of Antiquities, to interrupt the building site, in order to study these structures and provide information about their former function and historical value. The study of the findings is still ongoing nowadays, and the initial design of the water tank is being redefined in order not to affect the presence of the archeological heritage while granting the same capacity for water collection (without undermining the initial concept).
The excavation in El Alamein area
Here the demolition works brought to light the presence of an unknown (rather recent) well, and a more recent structure related to the existing water infrastructure that could only be seen after the elimination of all the built elements of the site. None of the found structures seems to have any historical value, but in any case, they required extra time for being investigated, necessary reflection and technical effort to be solutioned and safely incorporated in the initial design.
EYDAP staff working in the Kdrou site
Currently the most advanced building site (completion is foreseen for February 2024), this portion of the urban regeneration project was the stage for the main discussion concerning the identified technical solutions between the building contractor, the city’s technical department and the designers. In fact, as the architectural solutions imagined in the preliminary project were brought to the implementation phase a number of criticalities emerged. Doubts concerning the correctness of the imagined solutions were advanced, so further research and development of the design solution was put in place; skepticisms were expressed by city’s technical department about its capacity to effectively manage the new public spaces in the long run (i.e. having the necessary skills and competencies to operate maintenance and replicate the solution in the future). These arguments - still in negotiation - are bringing to a partial redefinition of the initial constructive idea, leading to technical simplification, adjustments, changes but, at the same time, stimulating the designers to imagine a solution capable of granting anyway the main values proposed by the initial concept (i.e. physical continuity of the paved surfaces, use of specific materials, etc.).
The new public space along Gyftopoulou street
Dealing with the unforeseen
What is currently happening in the four building sites where Halandri’s urban regeneration projects will take place is very common: detours, deviations, changes and adjustments happen in urban design processes along the pathways from inception to construction, and may be caused by a number of different factors and actors (technical, political, bureaucratic, etc.). Some of them may be taken into account from the early stages, or at least expected when the imagined solution is framed; some others are unpredictable, as contextual conditions, technical misfortunes, rearrangements in action (and more), may occur. The lesson learnt offered by the Halandri case in this sense relates to the capacity of the actors on the stage to make sense of change, adapting "on the go" and redefining their trajectories for actions accordingly… finally finding new pathways. Far from evidencing lack of capacity to control the process , this ability to react consistently to change has been associated to the capacity to improvise, as a skill related to expertise and even mastery: to reframe current conditions combining the old with the new, creating continuously (new) relevant order. The resources in place are rearranged into patterns bearing little or no resemblance to the original model, or using alternative models as the basis for inventing new trajectories (1). The final output hence, will inevitably be different from the initial proposed solution, but most likely much more consistent with the individual’s past experience, dispositions, and local conditions.
Bulding the new technical solution for the hard surface in public spaces
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(1) This approach to improvisation relates to the work brought about by the renowned organizational theorist Karl Weick (see Weick K.E., Sutcliffe K.M. (2007), “Managing the unexpected. Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty”, John Wiley & Sons).
