The Team
The initial idea for the Atlas belongs to Thomas Maloutas, who proposed it to the Onassis Foundation and explored the Foundation’s intention to support this effort within the framework of the Reactivate Athens program.
The Atlas’ editors are Thomas Maloutas and Stavros Spyrellis. Among other things, Stavros editorial responsibilities include map illustrations as well as standardising the extremely diverse supporting material which accompanies most article submissions, a task carried out with the important help of Markos Kalofolias. Vasilis Papadopoulos (http://www.itis.gr/) tirelessly worked on the website’s structure and visual set-up.
The article authors comprise scientists from various disciplines whose work focuses on Athens. Many of them also contributed to the Social and Economic Atlas of Greece. The Cities. The Editors’ intention is to constantly expand the list of contributing authors.
Following the launch of the Greek version of the Atlas an Editorial Team comprising Vassilis Arapoglou,Dimitris Balampanidis, Nikos Karadimitriou, Iris Polyzou and Ion Sagias has joined Thomas and Stavros in order to assist with the launch of the English version and to enhance and develop the Atlas’ future content.
The Editors
Thomas Maloutas
Emeritus Professor at the Department of Geography, Harokopio University. Former Director of the Institute of Urban and Rural Sociology of the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) (2001-2012), Professor at the Department of Planning, University of Thessaly (1991-2009) and General Secretary for Research & Technology (2015-2016). His work is related to the changing social structures in metropolitan areas in the era of capitalist globalisation with a focus on issues of segregation and gentrification related to housing and broader welfare regimes. His research and published work refer mainly to the South European urban context and especially to Athens.
Stavros Spyrellis
Researcher at the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) and associate at the Géographie-cités laboratory (CNRS). He has worked as temporary assistant, teaching and research in French and Greek Universities. Graduate of the Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, with postgraduate studies at the Université Paris I. His doctoral thesis, entitled Social Division of the Athenian Metropolitan Area, Economic Factors and Educational Issues, was defended in November 2013 (Université Paris VII). His research focuses on the spatial analysis and the mapping of social, economic and educational segregation, particularly in the metropolitan area of Athens.
The Editorial Board
Vassilis Arapoglou
Professor in “Urban sociology, social inequalities and exclusion” at the department of Sociology of the University of Crete. Initially trained as an economist, M.Sc. in European social policy, and PhD in human geography, London School of Economics. He has been an associate of significant social research institutes in Greece and a visiting researcher at the European Institute Hellenic Observatory LSE and the OpenSpace Research Center of the Open University in the UK. His work focuses on the analysis of social inequalities, multiple deprivation, homelessness, residential segregation and the settlement of immigrants in urban centers and on comparative approaches to urban and social policies in Europe and the USA.
Ifigeneia Dimitrakou
Postdoctoral researcher in Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Zurich. Ph.D. in Urban Planning Design & Policies (Politecnico di Milano), MSc. in Urbanism (TU Delft), and in Architecture (AUTH). Her doctoral thesis examined the socio-spatial production of housing vacancy in post-crisis Athens focusing on the practices and everyday experience of these processes in the dense neighbourhoods of the city. Her research interests involve housing and dwelling, housing precarity and dispossession, housing and urban policies. She has worked in teaching and research at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies Politecnico di Milano and as an architect-urban planner in Berlin.
Dimitris Balampanidis
Received his PhD in Urban Social Geography from Harokopio University of Athens, holds an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and a Diploma in Architecture from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). His research focuses on immigrants’ housing pathways and entrepreneurial activities, ethnic residential segregation and transcultural coexistence, as well as housing policies, urban and regional planning. He has conducted several research projects at the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE), the Urban Environment Laboratory (National Technical University of Athens), the research department UMR Géographies-Cités (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS) and the École Française d’Athènes (EfA).
Nikos Karadimitriou
Associate Professor in Urban Development and Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning (UCL). His research interests include housing and property development, the relationship between social differentiations and the production of the built environment as well as institutional change in spatial regulation and spatial production systems, in the context of climate change. His research has been funded by JPI Urban Europe and Horizon 2020, among others. He has published several peer-reviewed journal papers and two books: Planning, Risk and Property Development: Urban Regeneration in England, France and the Netherlands (Routledge, 2013) and The State of Addis Ababa 2021: Towards a Healthier City (UN Habitat, 2021).
Nikolina Myofa
She holds a Ph.D. in the field of Social Geography from Harokopio University of Athens. Her research thesis concerns two exceptional Athenian neighbourhoods with social housing estates, Dourgouti and Tavros, and their socio-spatial development from 1922 until today. The aim is to investigate whether these two neighborhoods managed to maintain through the years some elements of their particular trajectory or whether these two neighbourhoods were eventually assimilated and became similar to their wider areas. Her research interests include social and urban geography with a focus on housing issues.
Iris Polyzou
PhD in urban sociology, Researcher at the French School of Athens, Section of Modern and Contemporary Studies. Her doctoral thesis, under joint international supervision by the School of Architecture NTUA and the Department of Geography, University of Poitiers, focused on the sociospatial settlement of migrants through the case study of the Chinese entrepreneurs in Metaxourgio area in Athens. Her current research investigates the geography of ethnic businesses in central Athens and Nicosia, Cyprus. She participates in research projects studying social transformations and commercial centralities in the city.
Dimitra Siatitsa
Post-doctoral researcher (Department of Sociology, University of Crete, IKY Scholarship) on youth housing conditions in Greece. Holds a PhD from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (NTUA), a master’s degree on Architecture and Urban Culture (FPC/UPC) and a diploma on Architecture (NTUA). Her work focuses on urban geography and housing, housing inequalities, public housing policies, alternative initiatives and social movements, with a special focus on Southern Europe. She has collaborated in European and greek research programmes and has worked in the field of social welfare at the Ministry of Labour. She is a member of research networks and groups.
John Sayas (†)
Our friend and colleague John Sayas passed away in July 2020. He was Professor at the School of Rural and Survey Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens and previously Researcher at the Institute of Urban and Rural Sociology at the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) (1988-2004). He was also deputy Ombudsman for almost a decade (2011-2020) responsible for the section ‘Protection of the Environment and Quality of Life’. He has directed many research projects and published extensively on issues related to planning methodology, methods and techniques of spatial analysis, urban sprawl, social segregation, collective consumption, industrial and employment geography. He was among the pioneers of this social Atlas and has effectively contributed until the end as a member of the Editorial Board.
The Associates
Markos Kalofolias
Environmental Scientist of the University of the Aegean with postgraduate studies at the Department of Environmental Engineering of the Democritus University of Thrace, specializing in Energy Design of Buildings and Sustainable Development. He has a teaching experience as an adult educator at Second Chance School (SCS) and Vocational Training Institute (IEK) in the Environmental Education course. His research work focuses on spatial analysis, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), energy efficiency simulation of buildings and energy saving.
Nikos Klironomos
Graduate of the Department of Political Science and History of Panteion University at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He also studied at the Department of Informatics of the Athens University of Economics and Business. Collaborator of the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) and the Panteion University in various research projects and data manager in the SoDaNet RI. His research interests include the fields of Political and Electoral Sociology, Political Elites and Political Communication on issues mainly related to the study of Social Media, while he emphasizes on the field of Research Methodology, Social Data Science and especially on the modern methods of Big Data Analysis.
Marion Sbriglio
After three years of studying humanities and social sciences, she chose to specialize in geography and is currently in the first year of the Master’s degree «Social sciences, specialization Spaces» at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon (France). Her first thesis is about the appropriation of the city, through the study of theatrical practices and places in Athens. Her research interests include cultural, social and urban geography with a focus on performing arts.
Laura Bouillette
Second year Master student in internationals migrations at the Department of Geography in Poitiers, France. Holder of a bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Rouen, France. Her research interests focus on the living situations of homeless refugees in Greece and which solution they try to set up to avoid this situation (makeshift habitat, squat, governmental housing…) and how the interactions between different parties (governmental, association or society in general) have an impact on their daily lives
Charlotte Jorgensen
After completing two years of preparatory studies in mathematics and physics in at Polytech Clermont-Ferrand, France, she studied three years of Spatial Planning and Environment in the engineering school Polytech Tours, France, specialized in Networks and Systems of Environment and Urban Planning. She did an exchange semester at the Geography Department of Harokopio University of Athens, leading to an internship at the National Centre of Social Research (EKKE) in the processing and analysis of data on foreign businesses in Athens.