10-15/09/2018 - Εκπαιδευτικό Πρόγραμμα | Athens – Arrival city in age of austerity (Αθήνα)

Athens has been marked as a city in crisis. Austerity policies have generated rapid social and economic changes, which are already evident in the physical and social urban fabric. Urban development policies – while aiming to re-inform the city – have intensified the conflictive transformation of urban space, its usage, its perception and its appropriation.

Many cities, including the Municipality of Athens, have assumed a more active role in terms of governance, for what concerns both the management of programmes an the direct reception of funds. Through participating in nation-wide competitions such as the Mayors Challenge sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropy, participatory design and the culture of volunteerism have taken centre stage in urban politics, providing the opportunity to explore how such methodologies can impact local regeneration in the age of austerity.

The Athens summerLab wants to offer a contribution and a reflection around the potential role of urban planning, urban design and architecture in supporting the long-term integration of refugees and migrants. In so doing, we want to identify, discuss the impact of different urban strategies, and to formulate possible alternative responses.

The Athens summerLab’s participants will be exposed to a variety of urban actors and practitioners to critically explore the different roles, relations and coordinaton between local authorities, private entities, grassroots organisations, NGOs, activists, migrants and refugees.

Current shifts in urban governance with the municipality assuming a more active role, aiming to promote participatory design and the culture of volunteerism will be presented, providing the opportunity to explore how such methodologies can impact local regeneration in the age of austerity.

Through city walks, participants will initially explore the effects of the economic crisis on the different urban and building typologies such as the polykatoikia, ground floor spaces, semi-public and public spaces etc.

Αdditionally, participants will get familiarised with the geographical locations of both formal and informal responses to the so called refugee crisis and explore the visible and not so visible ways in which the static presence of migrants and refugees alter the urban landscape.

Revealing and reimagining the city’s available urban and housing stock will indicate potential room for the construction of an inclusive vision of urban transformation. The outcomes of the workshop will be presented in a final meeting with summerLab’s partners and local actors.

Αναλυτικές πληροφορίες - Δηλώσεις συμμετοχής: ucl.ac.uk