DIMOS LARISEON
Larissa is the capital of the region of Thessaly in Central Greece and it is located in the center of an agriculture region. The total area of the Municipality is 335.12 km² with a population of over 160.000 inhabitants. Larissa is the largest city of the region, with a significant rural hinterland, and hosts many public organizations, educational, financial institutes and health institutions, while it has a considerable production infrastructure and commercial activity.
The scope of the Municipality’s work is extremely varied and spans from long-term planning of projects and urban development to everyday needs of the city and its citizens, maintenance of the urban landscape and infrastructure, providing assistance to vulnerable members of the local society, operation of cultural spaces and organization of events, cooperation with local actors in the fields of education, economy, social intervention, culture, sport, energy, urban management as well as the everyday operation of the city administration.
In March 2015 Larissa is launching actions based on the humanitarian principles of Lifelong Learning creating “Larissa – Learning City”. Then, it became the first Greek city member of the UNESCO “Learning Cities” Network and has established a steering committee for the “Learning City” project which includes approximately 90 participating organisations. “Larissa Learning City” supports critical thinking, the transformation of stereotypes, the empowerment of citizens and the intergenerational communication and won for this reason the UNESCO Award in September of 2017. In 2018 “Citizens University” of Larissa was established and was set under the aegis of UNESCO National Committee with the aim to promote active citizenship and boost participants’ critical thinking in a transformative way by providing knowledge and skills useful to citizens.
160,000
Population
2015
UNESCO ‘Learning City’
335 km²
Total Area
2018
Established ‘Citizens University‘
