The exhibition presents the outcomes of the PlaneScapes design workshop, which explored the protection and enhancement of Thessaloniki’s centuries-old plane trees and proposed a unified walking route connecting them through the city’s historic center. The project activates elements of natural, tangible, and intangible cultural heritage while revealing hidden qualities of the urban landscape.

The four emblematic trees are located opposite the Portara in the Upper Town, beside the Turkish Consulate, at Navarinou Square, and near the White Tower. Although they meet the criteria for listed natural monuments, they remain unprotected.

These plane trees -more than natural features within the dense urban fabric- are living witnesses to Thessaloniki’s history, geography, and transformations. Their presence is linked to Ottoman neighborhoods, fountains, aqueducts, refugee settlements, archaeological traces, and forgotten underground water systems that continue to shape the city invisibly.

An experiential design workshop, including site observations, interviews and photographic documentation, became the basis for a new reading of Thessaloniki through these long-standing natural elements. Shade, water, movement, memory, and everyday urban life were treated as material for analysis and design.

Through mappings, drawings, and spatial proposals, the exhibition presents strategies for protecting and enhancing the trees and their surrounding public space. PlaneScapes ultimately proposes a different understanding of our cultural heritage and natural legacy: one rooted not only in monumental landmarks, but also in living landscapes that endure, remember, and continue to shape the future of the city.

Athina Vitopolou – Vanessa Tsakalidou

Associate Professors, School of Architecture AUTh