ABSTRACT
Introduction The 2007 economic and financial crisis spread as a phenomenon with global dimensions but, at the same time, it had important local particularities. In Greece, the problem emerged primarily as a massive budget deficit. However, in conjunction with the austerity measures implemented thereafter and the delay in the implementation of necessary institutional and structural changes, it finally culminated in a prolonged recession with devastating consequences for a wide range of social groups. Today, after five years of economic recession, we still cannot refer to a post-crisis era, since the country still depends on the International Monetary Fund (IMF ) and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) financial assistance, and the long-awaited development is not yet evident. The current and ongoing economic crisis is the first phenomenon of its kind and scale in the post-Second World War period in Greece. As such, it is of unprecedented importance for the vast majority of the Greek population and also for the state as a body. The impacts caused by the crisis in a country with Greece’s particularities are quite unknown and it is not easy to estimate them accurately since we have no reliable experience on which to call. Therefore, the questions concerning the understanding and interpretation of this phenomenon, the assessment of its impacts, and the formulation and implementation of appropriate relative policies and actions constitute a wide field for research and experience exchange of particular interest in Greece and abroad. The present chapter considers the demographic and spatial development of the city of Athens, studying the findings of research and analysis so far on the evolution of the crisis. Through a space analysis approach, combining issues of urbanism, land planning, and social geography, it attempts to provide a comprehensive understanding of the socio-spatial implications of the crisis, an overview of its causes, and its visible aspects and trends regarding real estate economy, access to housing, commercial activities, investments, urban development and policies, use and condition of public space, infrastructure and transport, and environmental changes. A particular emphasis is given to the city of Athens, which, as the capital of a centralised state, comprises a large proportion of the country’s total population,
political power, administration, services, and economic activities. In fact, during the 2000s and before the outbreak of the crisis, the metropolitan region of Athens accounted for about 40 per cent of the country’s economic performance, 50 per cent of its income and savings, 60 per cent of income taxes, and 70 per cent of the turnover in the construction and production sector (ELSTAT, 2013c). According to available data and research findings, a comparative analysis is feasible only for the country as a whole and, for the time being, not for other cities or urban agglomerations. Apart from the socio-spatial impacts of the crisis, the chapter takes into account the current policies applied in the institutional and organisational field and at the level of spatial interventions. In doing so it aims at investigating and systematically estimating the impacts of the economic crisis and the abovementioned policy agenda in terms of both spatial and social dimensions. In the following sections, the chapter refers to the particular socio-spatial context of modern Athens, outlines the local causes of and conditions underpinning the outbreak of the crisis in the country, and analyses socio-spatial impacts of the crisis in Athens according to available relevant data. Lastly, it investigates the spatial planning implemented during the crisis, focusing on general regulations and policies, strategic local spatial development plans, major urban interventions, and the need for relief actions and initiatives, before drawing some conclusions and raising a number of questions.
