Thessaloniki metropolitan area

The region now consists of all the traditional areas noted above as well as the newly emerging suburbs and exurbs to the northwest, north, east and southeast of the city.

Two old suburbs that are increasingly coalescing into the urban area, due to its expansion and the creation of new transportation networks, are those of Oraiokastro and Panorama.

The municipalities to the west of Thessaloniki are increasingly becoming home to new immigrants and are predominantly working class areas.

[2] Table source: National Statistical Service of Greece[3] A serious problem that particularly suburbs of the Thessaloniki metropolitan area have faced, was the lack of extending and introducing new growth boundaries on time (particularly in the southeast) by the national government, to manage the rapid suburban growth and urban sprawl that started in the 1990s.

This allowed many new homes to be built on large blocks of land with no future urban provisions taken into consideration and in areas that were otherwise used for agriculture.