Athens – Arrival city in age of austerity (2018)

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.

Such urban dynamics have been accompanied by abrupt changes in nation-wide immigration and asylum-seeking patterns. Greece, being initially a transit country, has faced major challenges concerning the reception of migrants and refugees, and the coverage of their basic needs. Being this no longer an emergency situation, the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO) has decreased the provision of funds and the dominant rhetoric has shifted from a need of a life saving operation to that of integrating migrants and refugees in the country. Integration – being by definition a dynamic and gradual process with economic, social, cultural, political and legal dimensions – involves both the individual and the receiving society. This is creating the conditions for cross-sectorial urban interventions: while in the humanitarian context the beneficiary of aid is the individual, shifting the focus to the urban realm as a whole, at multiple scales, could allow for a more inclusive and ultimately human-centred process. 


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 aimed to offer a contribution and a reflection on the potential role of urban planning, urban design, and architecture in supporting the long-term integration of refugees and migrants. In doing so, it sought to identify and discuss the impact of different urban strategies and to formulate possible alternative responses.

The Athens summerLab’s participants were exposed to a variety of urban actors and practitioners to critically explore the different roles, relationships, and coordination 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 in promoting participatory design and a culture of volunteerism, were presented, providing an opportunity to explore how such methodologies could impact local regeneration in the age of austerity.

Through city walks, participants initially explored the effects of the economic crisis on different urban and building typologies, such as the polykatoikia, ground floor spaces, semi-public and public spaces, among others. Additionally, participants familiarised themselves with the geographical locations of both formal and informal responses to the so-called refugee crisis and examined the visible and less visible ways in which the static presence of migrants and refugees altered the urban landscape.

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