132 Ecology and Applied Environmental Science
their natural quality is altered through overall modifications to the streambed and banks using concrete, various types and sizes of structures on the
banks, dumping of rubble or wastes, inappropriate plantings, etc. In many
cases, a stream cannot be discerned any more as a physical entity.
Overall, in the densely built-up space of Attica one may note the following:
• Intensive exploitation of all properties, land profiteering, and illegal
extensions of the city (which in the end are legalised) have caused
most of the stream network to disappear.
• Destruction of streams as part of nature has been facilitated by the
belief that they are “dirty” places that are hazardous to public health,
due to the tradition of disposing of liquid waste and refuse in streams.
• For the most part, the state has treated streams as corridors in the road
network, especially when they were the only public lands in areas where
roadworks were needed. This attitude, together with the practice of culverting streams and integrating them in the sewer system, has led them
to be generally regarded as parts of the city’s technical infrastructure.
6.8.3 nature in the city
The urban space is not made up solely of buildings and human beings,
nor is it shaped solely by human activities. Wildlife has always had an
important place in the environment of the city. To be sure, the process of
building, which transforms a natural or agricultural environment into an
urban environment, entails the removal of the flora and fauna from their
natural habitats and a great reduction in their populations in the specific
area. This removal is temporary, however; the urban system has a tendency
to return to its natural state. Wildlife bides its time, ready to rush out and
reoccupy urban spaces the moment that human activities cease for one reason or another. But wildlife is also omnipresent during the whole time that
humans inhabit the urban space. An important part of it is made up of
those biological species that are fed by humans or that generally derive
some benefit from coexistence with humans. Various bacteria, both pathogenic and non-pathogenic, fungi, protozoans and viruses thrive and form
substantial populations in the crowded inhabitants of cities. Along with
this, all sorts of anthropophilic higher organisms thrive, from plants and
insects to birds and mammals. Ants, cockroaches, flies, spiders, pigeons,
sparrows, rats and mice are examples of anthropophilic animals which
usually thrive much better in cities than in the wild.
Depending on available food and suitable spaces where the various species may take refuge and survive, wildlife adapts to a greater or lesser
degree to conditions in the city. The most adaptable species are those characterised as anthropophilic, which ultimately form the largest populations
in the urban ecosystem. In parallel, however, in certain places or seasons
their natural quality is altered through overall modifications to the streambed and banks using concrete, various types and sizes of structures on the
banks, dumping of rubble or wastes, inappropriate plantings, etc. In many
cases, a stream cannot be discerned any more as a physical entity.
Overall, in the densely built-up space of Attica one may note the following:
• Intensive exploitation of all properties, land profiteering, and illegal
extensions of the city (which in the end are legalised) have caused
most of the stream network to disappear.
• Destruction of streams as part of nature has been facilitated by the
belief that they are “dirty” places that are hazardous to public health,
due to the tradition of disposing of liquid waste and refuse in streams.
• For the most part, the state has treated streams as corridors in the road
network, especially when they were the only public lands in areas where
roadworks were needed. This attitude, together with the practice of culverting streams and integrating them in the sewer system, has led them
to be generally regarded as parts of the city’s technical infrastructure.
6.8.3 nature in the city
The urban space is not made up solely of buildings and human beings,
nor is it shaped solely by human activities. Wildlife has always had an
important place in the environment of the city. To be sure, the process of
building, which transforms a natural or agricultural environment into an
urban environment, entails the removal of the flora and fauna from their
natural habitats and a great reduction in their populations in the specific
area. This removal is temporary, however; the urban system has a tendency
to return to its natural state. Wildlife bides its time, ready to rush out and
reoccupy urban spaces the moment that human activities cease for one reason or another. But wildlife is also omnipresent during the whole time that
humans inhabit the urban space. An important part of it is made up of
those biological species that are fed by humans or that generally derive
some benefit from coexistence with humans. Various bacteria, both pathogenic and non-pathogenic, fungi, protozoans and viruses thrive and form
substantial populations in the crowded inhabitants of cities. Along with
this, all sorts of anthropophilic higher organisms thrive, from plants and
insects to birds and mammals. Ants, cockroaches, flies, spiders, pigeons,
sparrows, rats and mice are examples of anthropophilic animals which
usually thrive much better in cities than in the wild.
Depending on available food and suitable spaces where the various species may take refuge and survive, wildlife adapts to a greater or lesser
degree to conditions in the city. The most adaptable species are those characterised as anthropophilic, which ultimately form the largest populations
in the urban ecosystem. In parallel, however, in certain places or seasons