Becoming a resilient city: what can we learn from the Greek city Thessaloniki?

Seven years ago, the city of Thessaloniki launched a Resilience Strategy ‘Thessaloniki 2030’ to prepare the city to face climate change and adapt to new climate hazards. At the time, the climate crisis was at the backdrop of the economic crisis and was not regarded as crucial by many. But as Greece has been suffering the negative effects of climate change more and more acutely every year, the city’s strategic approach and anticipated planning has paid off. Affected by flooding, strong winds and intensified heat waves, the densely populated city of Thessaloniki has taken “small steps” in the past 7 years to help the city cope with these hazards, which have been making a big difference.

In our latest podcast episode on Adaptation, we spoke to Stella Psaropoulou, who has worked at the Municipality of Thessaloniki for 17 years, more recently working as a strategic planning and funding management officer at the Department of Operational Planning and Development Programme Monitoring. Since 2016, she has been team member of the Resilient Thessaloniki office and contributed to the launch and implementation of the city’s Resilience Strategy 'Thessaloniki 2030.'

Stella discussed with us how integrating European networks and programmes has emboldened the city to take action for the climate, opened them to new perspectives, and provided them with tools and instruments to implement their plan. As part of two of the EU’s essential missions for climate change, the EU Mission on adaptation to climate change and the EU Mission of 100 smart and climate-neutral city by 2030, the city has taken ambitious commitments to become climate neutral and resilient over the next decade. Programmes such as the Covenant of Mayor’s Policy Support Facility has given them the tools and impetus to move from planning to implementation of their adaptation measures. 

Stella tells us about the concrete measures Thessaloniki is working on to green their dense city, from community gardens to an urban vineyard. And she also zooms out to give us the broader picture of what is needed for all these measures to come to life and have a real impact: strategic planning, cross-departmental cooperation, multilevel governance, and citizen engagement.

Tune into the full episode here!