{"id":134727,"date":"2025-10-20T21:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134727\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:27:08","slug":"once-sacred-balconies-now-deserted-ekathimerini-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134727\/","title":{"rendered":"Once-sacred balconies now deserted | eKathimerini.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"600\" class=\"picture-main-block-image\" data-nxsrc=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Vagelis_Poulis_Balncony_city-life.jpg\" alt=\"Once-sacred balconies now deserted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Vagelis_Poulis_Balncony_city-life.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The once-vibrant ritual of summer evenings on Athenian balconies \u2013 a defining feature of postwar urban life \u2013 is quietly fading. Once filled with chatter, clinking glasses, and the hum of televisions, balconies now sit largely empty, their absence marking a cultural shift as deep as it is visible. Architects and sociologists point to multiple causes: relentless heat from the climate crisis, changing urban demographics, and the rise of digital life and privacy. People basically no longer want to see or be seen, as strangers replace neighbors and screens replace conversation. For many Athenians, air-conditioned interiors have replaced the once-coveted balcony refuge from the summer heat, especially after the record-hot summer of 2024. Yet demand for spacious balconies remains high in new construction, especially in the city\u2019s southern suburbs. Architect Yiannis Karahalios calls balconies \u201cthe only opportunity for a building\u2019s expression,\u201d offering both aesthetic form and shade. \u201cBalconies will continue to matter,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause they define how Athens breathes.\u201d [Vangelis Poulis]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The once-vibrant ritual of summer evenings on Athenian balconies \u2013 a defining feature of postwar urban life \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,80440,366,18,117,19,13602,17,21174,2990],"class_list":{"0":"post-134727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-city-life","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-images","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-multimedia","20":"tag-society"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}