Athens’ so-called “commercial triangle,” an area between Syntagma, Monastiraki and Omonia squares, is arguably one of the most happening parts of the Greek capital right now, ekathimerini.com reports.
Every one of its narrow streets, every building, is a monument to a piece of the city’s social and economic history. It’s a mosaic in a constant state of transformation yet fundamentally unchanged. Is this really true, though? Hasn’t it been shaped by the crisis? What kind of activities are blossoming there today? What are the deeper effects of its recent popularity and does the rise in tourism-related activities there pose a risk to its traditional character?
These and many more questions are the topic of a recent study carried out by the National Center for Social Research (EKKE) in Athens’ commercial triangle during the first half of the year in cooperation with the team behind an initiative for upgrading the area spearheaded by the municipality with funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
The study is an extension of an older and much wider research program conducted by EKKE from 2005 to 2007 on the entire historic center of Athens, a wider area encompassing its key archaeological and historical monuments and sights.
“The area, which has been the center of Athenian commercial activity since the olden days and is a colorful example of the typical Greek hodgepodge of activities, social groups and enterprises, is changing yet again, in tune with wider economic and political developments in the country,” EKKE research director Ioanna Tsinganou, who supervised both the studies, told Greek daily Kathimerini.
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