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Europe's largest coastal park will cool the air four degrees
They started with the wind, not the flowers.
The old Athens airport in the city's southern suburbs is being turned into a 200-hectare park designed to cool the air around it. The Ellinikon Park, set to open in early 2027, will be the largest coastal urban park in Europe, running alongside two kilometers of Athenian Riviera waterfront. The design started with climate modeling rather than landscaping. Engineers ran airflow simulations to find where heat collects, then laid out pedestrian paths to follow the wind. Temperatures along those routes are projected to run up to four degrees Celsius below the surrounding streets. Sensors will track soil moisture and shade coverage in real time, watering more than 520 plant species only when they need it, which can cut water use by up to 90 percent. Concrete slabs from the demolished runways are being reused on site as retaining walls. Nothing gets trucked out if it can stay. Even the old airport is staying, in a way.