21St Century Athens: Planning in the Post Crisis Era
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21st century Athens: planning in the post crisis era Socio-spatiality, power relations and the right to the city Alexandros Daniilidis Supervisor: Justin Beaumont Cover page images Left image: NASA observatory (http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/4000/4739/olympics_iko_2004206_lrg.jpg) Centre image: taken by the author during the insurrection of December 2008 Right image: Spatial units of the SPA, (Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change & Athens Strategic Plan and Environment Organization, 2012) 21st century Athens: planning in the post crisis era Socio-spatiality, power relations and the right to the city A.Daniilidis s1942689 ([email protected]) Supervisor: Justin Beaumont Master thesis MSc Environmental and Infrastructure Planning Faculty of Spatial Sciences University of Groningen Groningen, August 2013 “The old world is dying away, and the new world struggles to come forth: now is the time of monsters.” Antonio Gramsci. Selections from Prison Notebooks, 1971. Acknowledgements Completing this thesis was aided by several people at various different stages, which I wish to thank. My supervisor, Justin Beaumont, has been patient with my familiarization of a more theoretical topic. His consistent avoidance of steering and persistence on asking insightful questions helped me to refine, focus and outline a research design and formulate my research questions. At the same time, his challenge of my motivation sparked a greater determination on my behalf at a crucial point during the research. What has come to be known as the “Focus Group”, namely Mufty, Wietske, Leena, Glory and Britta, for their help, support and constructive opposition in exam and assignment preparation, but also for the laid back evenings after (and sometimes before) those where completed. This thesis would have never started without them. Britta, for taking the time to look at yet another thesis and discussing points that need to be better defined or improved. Nikos, for his constant and enthusiastic support to simply keep going. Our abstract discussions where often confronting but always honest. Giannis, for being there and being real. | 7 Contents Contents Introduction in the form of a research proposal .......................................................................... 13 Rationale .................................................................................................................................. 13 Theoretical engagement........................................................................................................... 13 Research objectives .................................................................................................................. 14 Case study and methodology ................................................................................................... 15 Theoretical background ................................................................................................................ 17 Rationale .................................................................................................................................. 17 Planning theory ........................................................................................................................ 18 Rational/Comprehensive planning ....................................................................................... 18 Neoliberal ............................................................................................................................. 19 Collaborative/Communicative .............................................................................................. 20 Power relations ........................................................................................................................ 22 Theory of power relations .................................................................................................... 22 The right to the city .................................................................................................................. 24 Theory of the right to the city............................................................................................... 24 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................. 26 Interrelation ......................................................................................................................... 26 Framework ........................................................................................................................... 27 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 29 Rationale .................................................................................................................................. 29 Methodological choices ............................................................................................................ 30 Research questions................................................................................................................... 32 Case study .................................................................................................................................... 35 Contextual aspects for the city of Athens ................................................................................. 35 Socio-spatial regime in Athens before the crisis ....................................................................... 40 Housing ................................................................................................................................. 40 Distribution of civic space ..................................................................................................... 45 Public space use ................................................................................................................... 48 Higher education and reproduction of discrimination ......................................................... 49 Planning culture, 2004 Olympics and future planning .............................................................. 51 Planning practice in Greece .................................................................................................. 51 Olympics ............................................................................................................................... 52 Strategic plan for Athens/Attica ........................................................................................... 59 | 9 Master thesis The right to the city, power relations and crisis ....................................................................... 61 Claim of public spaces .......................................................................................................... 61 Insurrection .......................................................................................................................... 64 Greek crisis ........................................................................................................................... 68 Case study analysis ....................................................................................................................... 73 Socio-spatiality ......................................................................................................................... 73 Planning practice ...................................................................................................................... 74 The right to the city and power relations ................................................................................. 76 The role of planning.................................................................................................................. 77 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 79 Review and summarization of theory ....................................................................................... 79 Review of research methods .................................................................................................... 79 Case study analysis and conclusions ......................................................................................... 80 Implications .............................................................................................................................. 82 Reflection ................................................................................................................................. 82 Further research ....................................................................................................................... 83 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... 85 References .................................................................................................................................... 97 10 | Contents List of figures Figure 1. A schematic diagram of the interconnectedness of the strands that shape the theoretical framework.................................................................................................................. 27 Figure 2. Methods used for the research and individual research questions ............................... 32 Figure 3. Migration in Greece and population increase of Athens. Source: (Maloutas, 2008) ..... 35 Figure 4. Section