The Volos Project

Volos is a city of 120.000 inhabitants at the centre of Greece, mainly known as an industrial centre and a port. Although it is located at the centre of a tourist region, comprising mountain Pelion and the islands of Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonnisos, the city itself is not a tourist destination. The decline of the traditional manufacturing sector and port related activities calls for a turn to the tertiary sector and to tourism in particular.

The main objective of the Volos project is to examine and put forward ways of enhancing and promoting the city's cultural identity. The hypothesis is that by doing so, the city will gain as a tourist destination and cultural activities will contribute, directly or indirectly, towards economic development.

Indeed, there are traces of ancient history in the broader area with civilisations that flourished in the pre-historic period through to classical ages and the Hellenistic period and from the Byzantine period through to the Ottoman years. The ancient past is evident at the archaeological sites of Sesklo, Dimini, Demetrias and Palia and important findings and artefacts are presented in the Archaeological Museum of Volos. However, most of these sites remain unexploited', unknown to the local population and unattractive to visitors, while the Museum is rarely put in the agenda of visitors.

On the other hand, the modern city of Volos, which was established in the 1840's, based its development on the rich tradition of handicrafts and manufacture. This recent past is evident in industrial buildings, which are left abandoned as remnants of a glorious past and traditional handicrafts still operating in the area, which are often overlooked. Especially in the neighbourhood of Palia, the old historical centre of the city that remained out of the development process of the new town, one can find traces of ancient civilisations, abandoned industrial buildings and handicraft workshops in the traditional market area.

The Municipality of Volos always acknowledged the role of culture and the arts as an important factor of development and quality of life for the local population. It has developed the artistic education with municipal schools of a high standard for music, dance, theatre and the plastic arts. It also maintains a Philharmonic band, a Municipal Theatre and recently a Symphonic Orchestra, while gives access to local amateur groups and cultural associations to stage their own productions on municipal venues. The Centre of Musical Theatre, supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture, is a first initiative aiming to promote its annual festival into an international event linked with the city of Volos.

The local project moved along the five objectives established by CIED:

Cultural Innovation: To learn how to use and not abuse culture in economic development.
Cultural Heritage: To encourage the representation of cultures in peripheral regions.
Cultural Consensus Measures: Make consensus become the basis of decision making.
Cultural Impact Studies: Re-evaluate the role of culture in planning.
Good Practice Manual: To relate concrete needs to real constraints

The objectives identified during the project are along the following axes:

Promoting the ancient history of the area. The project aims, through co-operation between the local authority and the archaeological services, to launch a plan for improvements at the archaeological sites, increase awareness of the local population about the ancient past and provide better information and promotion material to visitors.
Promoting the recent history of the area. The Municipality of Volos has undertaken a major effort to save the memories of the city's industrial heritage, by restoring a large number of these industrial buildings, in order to accommodate new activities, a project that is supported by the URBAN Initiative. This project focuses on the neighbourhood of Palia for the regeneration of the old quarters of the city with new economic activities and social services established in restored industrial buildings and urban renewal plans aiming to revitalise the old historical centre.

The centre of these interventions is the old brick factory of Tsalapatas, which is transformed into a heritage and cultural centre, comprising:

The project aims to identify the needs of the future users of the brick factory, in order to incorporate their requirements into the planning process and initiate a process of consultations with the future investors. It also aims to link the project with the Municipal School of Applied Arts, in order to offer opportunities to young graduates to start their business there.

Promoting cultural events identified with the city. The project aims to link with the Municipal Cultural Organisation, the Centre of Musical Theatre and the Municipal Enterprise for Tourism and develop ideas for events based on local tradition and cultural production, which could attract the interest of visitors throughout the year. These may include the promotion of traditional events (like the Carnival); events linked with local history and tradition (like the myth of the expedition of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece), a yearly handicrafts fair or industrial heritage conferences and exhibitions.

Cultural Consensus Measures

In order to achieve these objectives, the local authority has to undertake a co-ordination role between different local actors, including municipal organisations, local departments of the Ministry of Culture (archaeological and recent monuments), local cultural associations and the private sector (entrepreneurs, hotels, tourist agencies, etc.), in order to mobilise the local forces in a co-ordinated programme of cultural development.

There are different levels of action for implementation of such a strategy:

Link culture and planning: Convert historical traces to points of reference

Improvement of archaeological sites.
Restoration of industrial and other historical buildings in order to accommodate cultural activities, enriching the cultural infrastructure of the city.
Urban renewal in the neighbourhood of Palia and creation of an integrated 'historical memory network' with an itinerary for visiting interconnected traces of history and restored buildings of the city.
Sign posting and information kiosks at key places, providing information and illustrating the importance of historical sites.

Prepare information material presenting places of interest in the city that one should visit, including A city guide with suggested itineraries, leaflets on archaeological sites, the Archaeological Museum, the Tsalapalas heritage and cultural centre and the historical neighbourhood of Palia and a CD-ROM presentation of the historical and cultural identity of the city.

Promote activities of historical awareness, like the project of children discovering a monument or organising artistic events at historical sites.

Promote new activities related to the cultural identity of the place:

Traditional handicraft workshops. Shops selling locally produced hand-made products.
Cultural places based on local artists.
Seasonal cultural events identified with the city.

Develop cultural education and training to support cultural tourism:

Training in traditional handicraft skills.
Artistic education (music, theatre, dance, plastic arts)
Training of cultural guides.

International co-operation

The Volos partnership regards the co-operation with the other European partners of CIED, by exchanging information and ideas, offering suggestions and listening for feedback, as a unique opportunity to develop innovative strategies in the cultural sector and a common methodology that could be useful for other European policy makers and planners.

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