ATHENS, Greece — Exarchia Square, the heart of Athens’ historically left-wing neighborhood, is now surrounded by metal fencing and three-meter-high barriers. Riot police stand guard at every corner of the construction site for a new metro station, slated for completion between 2029 and 2030, part of a broader push to modernize areas around the city center.

Until August 2022, the site was a triangular green space that served as a gathering point for residents and activists, hosting local markets and protests over economic hardship and government policies. “The metro was a very strategic choice from the government to gentrify Exarchia,” Dimitris Pettas, an urban geographer at the Technical University of Berlin, told Al-Monitor. “It’s a huge hit on political activity in Exarchia, but this phenomenon is spreading across the entire city.”

Today, the area's gentrification is evident, with American-style cafes and residential buildings increasingly converted into short-term rental apartments, often through Airbnb.

In 2025, the American platform generated nearly 1 billion euros (around $1.15 billion) in Greece, profoundly transforming central neighborhoods in the capital such as Exarchia, Psyrri, Omonia, Metaxourgio, Koukaki and Kolonaki. “All the changes happened very suddenly. They were very violent because they occurred in a very short period of time,” Pettas explained. “At the beginning, it started as a bottom-up phenomenon, as an economic survival strategy for Athenians,” he added, noting that a lack of government regulation later opened the door to foreign investment.