ABSTRACT
Mark Mazower’s contribution dissects the role of thinking about the future, particularly in the critical period of the second half of the 19th century, in shaping the city’s modern identity. The gradual inclusion of Thessaloniki in the global capitalist economy brought with it a teleological idea of History and the modernist idea of progress which began to make an impact upon the city in concrete ways. The demolition of the medieval walls and the expansion of the port under an active governor, Sabri Pasha, during the 1870s, signaled a more active role for the state in shaping this future. Even more ambitious was the urban planning of Ernest Hébrard after the 1912–1913 Balkan Wars and the 1917 fire. As Thessaloniki bifurcated between a traditional Upper City and a European Lower City, it also expanded outwards with the new European neighborhoods, primarily toward the east. This physical transformation proceeded in parallel with the flourishing of nationalism.
