Landscape aesthetic contamination, from weak point to Urban redemption element: case Eleusis, Greece

In the case study it is examined, the contamination concerns the historically poorly planned relationship between the city's historic center, the archeological site and the industrial area currently being decommissioned. The urban resilience project is elaborated in the context of the candidacy of the city (and the subsequent assignment) to European Capital of Culture 2021. The main objectives are the realization of a new “ecology of functions”, the urban regeneration of the historical center through the rehabilitation of existing monuments, the rational organization of the archeological site with the replacement of the current museum (in situ) with a new one (in a neighboring abandoned area), the redesign of the relevant natural landscape, the recovery and reuse of some industrial buildings as critical evidence of “industrial archeology”, the “smart” connection between the archeological site, the restored industrial buildings and the city itself, in the context of a new daily life, transforming an economy based exclusively on the secondary, now in irreversible crisis, into a cultural “industry”. It is therefore a matter of solving the main contradiction between two important memories that build today's reality (ancient: archeological site; contemporary: abandoned industrial areas), combining them with the redesigned urban center, for the creation of a new landscape characterized by a valuable “contamination” between old and new.