Vivian Doumpa looks at three examples of bottom-up urban interventions completed in Greece, which show that a font of citizen spirit and ingenuity can help overcome the most draconian austerity measures.
"Greek cities have been suffering from poor public-led urban planning strategies, even before the economic downfall," says Doumpa. "However, there seems to be a vivid call for bottom-up initiatives that are able to directly improve urban conditions. NGOs, citizens, private agencies and also institutions start to engage themselves in new-style urbanism initiatives — step by step, place by place."
A public, interactive mosaic at a primary school on the island of Crete, a "luminous, colorful" lighting installation in Athens, and pop-up interventions all over Greece inspired by "an open community of Athens’ citizens," show that bottom-up urbanism can conquer the negative mood and stimulate public dialogue throughout the country, argues Doumpa.
FULL STORY: Three Inspiring Examples Of Greek Crisis Urbanism
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
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