ELEFSINA

THE NEIGHBORHOODS

ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
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Stafida, Symiaka, Synoikismos, Rosika were all neighborhoods built and inhabited by the new settlers who crowded the factories and eventually expanded Elefsina. The city grew beyond the railroad tracks and towards the military airfield, to the west.

The Upper and Lower Elefsina were not divided merely by the railroad tracks, but also by the existence and lack of basic infrastructure. In contrast to Lower Elefsina, the Upper and Western districts had neither domestic water supply nor paved streets well until the mid-1970s.

ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
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The "foreigners" of Elefsina built their houses and quarters with their own hands, collectively, often close to their place of work or anywhere else they could find.

The settlement of the first refugees in 1922 was temporary at first, before becoming random, and eventually somewhat more organized from 1924 onwards, leading thus to the establishment of the township of the Greeks of Asia Minor, or Upper Elefsina.

The arrival of the Pontic Greeks in the 1960s led to the creation of a new quarter close to the military airfield, in Elefsina’s western section.

Workers, men and women alike, constructed shacks and gradually created neighborhoods. These neighborhoods eventually comprised the township of Pontic Greeks, still called Rosika to this day.

ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
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ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
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Strangers were gradually arriving in Elefsina, men and women alike. Coexistence in the city required constant negotiation.

Both friction and coexistence defined the merging of the populations of the Greeks of Asia Minor and the Arvanites of Lower Elefsina. Stories of acceptance, rejection, walling-off, or mutual understanding were commonly told by everyone arriving from other regions of Greece and finding Arvanites and older refugee populations already established in place.

Living together was not always harmonious. At times, contact with foreigners led to harsh situations, but there were also moments when everyday life in the neighborhood and the factory was full of compassion and solidarity.

ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
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ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
ELEFSINA | THE NEIGHBORHOODS
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Factories and people congregated at Elefsina, slowly assembling a city.
The initial development of the city’s urban and residential plan was fully dependent and reliant on industries; subsequent developments were implemented in ways that met the novel demand for housing.

The history of Elefsina is a tale of a city's creation, and, at the same time, a narrative of how life and culture are created around industry.