Housing and Urban Design in Greece – a genealogy and its legacy
Coordinators:
Vasiliki Petridou (University of Patras)
Kalliopi Amygdalou (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy)
Research team:
Vilma Hastaoglou-Martinidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Georgios Panetsos (University of Patras)
Alcestis Rodi (University of Patras)
Panayotis Tournikiotis (National Technical University of Athens)
Kalliopi Amygdalou (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy)
Konstantina Kalfa (National Technical University of Athens)
Lila Theodoridou (International Helleni University)
Athina Vitopoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
This geographical node considers the ways city space in Greece has been and is being produced through medium and large-scale mass housing initiatives (such as social housing in post-war Greece, workers’ housing in the 1st half of the 20th century, refugee housing etc). It then broadens the definition of ‘urban design’ to include economic and legal mechanisms that produce expansive urban landscapes and ensembles, such as antiparohi in post-war Greece.
Such a perspective allows us to question the assessment of Athens and other Greek cities as ‘unplanned’ or ‘chaotic’. Instead, it brings to surface an understanding of urban space as a constellation of smaller, connected, designed areas, and explores the opportunities and deadlocks that such a condition has created for the city and its citizens. The rhetoric – itself- of the ‘unplanned city’ and the lack of collective memory with regards to the above-mentioned urban design interventions could also emerge as an additional dimension in this discussion and extend it to current heated debates around on-going urban projects.
In order to explore this theme, this node will carry out a series of seminars/discussions which aim to connect (a) current ongoing research projects related to each other, in Greece, and (b) open the discussion internationally, bringing these research projects in dialogue with related research in other contexts. At a later stage, this node will consider the creation of an interactive map on which such urban design cases can be mapped, described, and accompanied by relevant research information.
- 17 June, 2021 4 pm CET - Seminar among Greek members