Scientific publications
Measuring Deprivation and Micro-Segregation in Greek Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies: Time to Apply a Common Method?
During the Programming Period 2014–2020, dozens of Greek cities drafted Integrated Territorial Investment programmes, based on Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies (ITI SUDs). The Strategies justified the selection of intervention and activity areas using socio-economic analysis. The parameters of that analysis, as specified by the National Coordination Authority, reflected the socio-economic and functional parameters highlighted in the relevant EU regulations. This paper uses a recently published methodology in order to estimate and map deprivation in Greek cities with over 100,000 inhabitants, and compares the results with the activity areas identified in the ITI SUDs of those cities.
The paper also makes an estimation of the potential for micro-segregation in deprived areas, in an effort to uncover the links between deprivation, built form and social composition at the micro-scale. The analysis shows that deprivation is comparatively more pronounced in Athens and Thessaloniki, and that the use of a common methodology to measuring deprivation, but with customized measurement scales, could support a more targeted allocation of urban policy resources. On the other hand, micro-segregation seems to be a factor worth exploring only in Athens and Thessaloniki, and not in Patra, Larissa, Volos and Heraklion, where the building stock in areas of deprivation is mostly low-rise.
Karadimitriou, N. & Spyrellis, S.N. 2024. ‘Measuring Deprivation and Micro-Segregation in Greek Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies: Time to Apply a Common Method?’, Land, 13 (4), 552.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/land13040552
Exploring Spatial Proximity and Social Exclusion through Two Case Studies of Roma Settlements in Greece
Roma groups in Greece are a long-standing socially deprived population that faces extreme social exclusion and segregation. Their marginalization includes limited access to education, employment, and housing. This paper explores their spatial position and social exclusion, comparing the social profile and life conditions in two case studies of Roma settlements with those of the municipal and regional units to which they belong. Methodologically, we analyze quantitative data from the 2011 Population Census to measure life conditions at three levels (settlement, municipal unit, regional unit), and we also use qualitative data from interviews with representatives of local agencies and residents of the two settlements to
document our hypotheses on the causal relations between the spatial position and the social exclusion of Roma groups. The comparison shows that the two Roma settlements are clearly different from their entourage, assembling the lowest positions in the labor market, the weakest performances in education, the largest households, and the worst housing conditions. This case of extreme social exclusion in ghettoized spatial proximity raises the question about the significance of micro-segregation and the way it works in different contexts, as well as the need for further research for a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between social inequality and spatial distance.
Maloutas, T.; Frangopoulos, Y.; Makridou, A.; Kostaki, E.; Kourkouridis, D. & Spyrellis, S.N. 2024. ‘Exploring Spatial Proximity and Social Exclusion through Two Case Studies of Roma Settlements in Greece’, Land, 13 (2), 202.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/land13020202
Events
Housing systems and their resilience across time in Athens, Vienna and Belgrade
International Workshop, Belgrade 15 – 17 May 2024, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography
The SeDe project comprises a rich network of international collaboration with teams working on similar issues in comparable cities. The aim of this International Workshop in Belgrade is to propose an comparison using three different housing systems, in Athens, Vienna and Belgrade, and their resilience across time. The event seek to provide an ongoing mirroring of the Athenian case, vis à vis centrer-eastern European urban contexts.
Housing stories in the Balkans and Central Europe will provide a comparative analysis of access to housing and social mix in the housing stock produced during the early postwar decades to provide very different housing solutions in Athens, Vienna and Belgrade.
Participants
- Aljoša Budović, University of Belgrade
- Nikola Jocić, University of Belgrade
- Jiannis Kaucic, Austrian Academy of Science
- Thomas Maloutas, Harokopio University, Department of Geography (SeDe team)
- Robert Musil, Austrian Academy of Science
- Nikolina Myofa, Harokopio University, Department of Geography (SeDe team)
- Ivan Ratkaj, University of Belgrade
- Judith Schnelzer, Austrian Academy of Science
- Dimitra Siatitsa, EKKE/ NTUA (SeDe team)
- Stavros Spyrellis, EKKE, Institute of Social Research (SeDe team)