Athens City Official: ‘Rapid Growth Has Left the City Exposed to Climate Change’
Skift Take
Athens has had infrastructure shortcomings for quite some time. Climate change and a tourism boom magnified the problems. The city's infrastructure chief hopes greener upgrades can be a solution.
Athens, Greece, has been one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in Europe. Last year, the city had a record 7 million tourists.
But Athens has been struggling to keep up with rapid growth. The influx of tourists has added strain to its public transportation, streets, roads, water, and waste management resources.
“We don't have the infrastructure at this moment to deal with all these tourists coming and going from Athens to other parts of Greece,” said Andreas Grammatikogiannis, Athens’ deputy mayor for infrastructure.
The cit
