The main objective of the this research project is to study urban policies and practices concerning spatial justice in Athens as a characteristic example of a city facing a multifaceted crisis. Our hypothesis argues that such a crisis has triggered antagonistic responses as well as claims concerning the definition and management of urban commons. The dominant austerity policies have increased social inequalities and withered hopes for a more just distribution of urban resources. On the other hand, practices of resistance and of collective survival of those threatened by the crisis reinstate demands of spatial justice, but they also often enact rights that are violated or abolished. Both kinds of political practices place the role of urban commons at the centre of urban conflicts and thus directly shape the limits and potentialities of spatial justice.​​

 

In order to explore the interconnections, interactions but also possible synergies between policies on the one hand and citizen initiatives and urban movements on the other we will focus on two distinct areas of inquiry that are crucial for the redefinition of spatial justice in contemporary Athens:

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(1) antagonisms revolving around the right to housing in the light of the rising ‘touristification’ of the southern metropolis and

(2) endeavours of alternative cultural production compared to dominant city policies concerning culture.

We argue that examples drawn from these two areas of investigation illustrate exemplary spatial processes of contestation, thus revealing the underlying conflicts between acts of the dominant political authorities and acts of alternative everyday life organization and inhabitation.