The Municipality of Larissa was formed under the 2011 Kallikratis local government reform programme through the merging of the former municipalities of Larissa, Giannoulis and Koilada. It is part of the Region of Thessaly and has 162,591 inhabitants (2011 Census).

The scope of the Municipality’s work is extremely varied and spans from long-term planning of projects and urban development to the everyday needs of the city and its citizens, maintenance of the urban environment and infrastructure, providing assistance to vulnerable members of the local society, operation of cultural spaces and organisation of events, cooperation with different local bodies as well as the everyday operation of the city administration.

Larissa suffers high summer temperatures and frequent heat waves, which are projected to become more intense due to climate change. The Municipality has already taken actions that strengthen climate resilience.  The projects for energy upgrading of municipal buildings and public space (e.g. bioclimatic project in Frourio Hill, installation of photovoltaics on roofs of school buildings, insulation and renovation of municipal buildings, green roofs, etc.) contribute both to mitigating climate change and improving comfort conditions during heat waves. In addition, water saving initiatives and projects (distant metering systems, protection of water pipes, monitoring the quality and quantity of water etc.) contribute to decreasing water demand and thus to decreasing vulnerability to droughts.    

The Municipality aims at integrating climate risk into urban planning and linking school building upgrading projects with educating school pupils, raising public awareness and provoking a broader debate on climate change challenges and solutions.

Within LIFE-IP AdaptInGR, the Municipality of Larissa intervenes in two central school complexes that have solar radiation highly absorptive and slowly reflective pavements in outdoor areas (e.g. cement or concrete block pavements).  The interventions aim to adapt the microclimate to climate change and will be designed in collaboration with the students, the teachers and the parents. They include greening outdoor space, use highly reflective material (cool materials) in outdoor pavements, use small scale RES systems to meet specific energy needs (e.g. night lighting, charging spots for smart devices) and building a sensor network to monitor atmospheric conditions. The interventions will be introduced in the environment education curricula of the schools and will be used to raise students’, teachers’ and parents’ awareness of climate change impacts, in particular on microclimate.

Website: http://larissa-dimos.gr

Contact persons for LIFE-IP AdaptInGR:

George  Soultis

Vice-Mayor for Public Works, Urban Planning and European Programmes

E-mail: soultis5@otenet.gr

Evaggelia Gountrumpi

Maria Nikolaidou

Office of European Programmes, Municipality of Larissa

E-mail: euprojects@larissa-dimos.gr