The Ellinikon: Europe's largest smart city becomes reality

What was presented as a visionary master plan just a few years ago is now taking shape on the coast outside Athens. The Ellinikon, Europe's largest urban development project and one of the most ambitious smart city projects in Europe, is being built on the site of the former airport.

With more than 40 active construction sites, around 3,000 employees and numerous international partners, development is progressing noticeably. Unlike many smart city concepts that remain on the drawing board for a long time, The Ellinikon is actually being built. At the same time, it is already clear that the path from a smart vision to a functioning city is complex, both technologically and socially and politically.

AI, digitalisation and new working environments – a location with a signal effect

A central element of the smart city strategy is the establishment of knowledge- and technology-intensive jobs. The partnership between LAMDA Development and the ION Group marks an important milestone in this regard. The plan is to create a large-scale research, development and innovation campus that will attract several thousand international specialists to Athens.

This clearly positions The Ellinikon as a location for AI, digitalisation and data-driven business models. At the same time, it remains to be seen how strongly these highly specialised structures will be integrated into the existing city and the local labour market – or whether they will primarily attract an international audience.

Education as a smart city factor

With the planned campus of the University of Nicosia, the education sector is also moving into The Ellinikon. Research, teaching and student housing are to be closely interlinked here, supported by digital technologies, AI applications and new learning formats.

Such integrated educational districts are considered an important building block of modern smart cities. The decisive factor will be whether the campus generates long-term momentum beyond the project area – for example, through cooperation with Greek universities, start-ups and public administration.

Living between innovation and exclusivity

Progress in residential construction is particularly visible. Projects such as the Riviera Tower and new neighbourhoods such as East Village and Little Athens are examples of high-quality, technology-supported living concepts with short distances, service offerings and direct access to green spaces and open areas for sports and leisure activities.

At the same time, the high entry prices show that the majority of the flats are primarily aimed at high-income buyers. This raises a classic smart city question: how innovative and sustainable is a city if central housing options are hardly accessible to broad sections of the population?

Retail, leisure and everyday life

The Riviera Galleria and Ellinikon Mall are creating new retail and leisure spaces that focus strongly on experience, architecture and international brands. For The Ellinikon, they are important building blocks of a 15-minute city, where work, living and shopping are located close together.

One undisputed advantage is Ellinikon Park, the largest coastal park in Europe. With new green spaces, an artificial lake and extensive planting, the project focuses on ecological enhancement, microclimate improvement and quality of public spaces.

Green infrastructure is regarded worldwide as a central element of smart cities – not as decoration, but as a functional component in the fight against climate change and the improvement of the urban climate.

Smart city as a test field

The Ellinikon impressively demonstrates the potential of integrated smart city approaches: networked neighbourhoods, digital working environments, new education models and green infrastructure. At the same time, the project makes it clear that technological innovations alone do not guarantee an urban future. Whether The Ellinikon will actually become a model for European smart cities will be decided less by architecture or technology and more by issues of social diversity, the integration of existing urban structures and long-term urban management. The smart city of tomorrow is not a product, but a process.