ABSTRACT
The global economic crisis has severely affected southeastern European regions and countries for the last ten years. Children, youth and families have experienced the negative effects of unemployment, economic insecurity and budget cuts. Economic and social vulnerability has led many families to poverty and social exclusion. Schools are places where we can see behaviour or routine changes and cuts related to food needs, extracurricular activities, field trips, social activities, heating, school maintenance and supplies along with dramatic cuts in staff availability. Looking at the economic crisis as a space of social innovation is an approach that has to be taken into account. From adaptation to resilience, there is a field for imagination and exploration. Unemployed parents are more able to accompany children to school, families organise car sharing and more sustainable mobility patterns may appear. Moreover, second-hand local or school markets emerge and a new distribution of housework and care may take place in households as part of a new gender contract. In all the analysis we emphasise the gender differences and include a gender geographical perspective that is easily lost in the more general overviews.
