1. Αποθετήριο Παραδοτέων Υποτρόφων Δράσεων ΕΣΠΑ Τριτοβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης 2017-2023
2. Όλο το Αποθετήριο
3. Ερευνητικές ομάδες

Τύπος:	Ανακοίνωση σε συνέδριο
Τίτλος:	Multiple geographies of precarity: the accommodation and housing policies for asylum seekers in metropolitan Athens, Greece
Ομιλητής:	[EL] Παπατζανή, Ευαγγελία[EN] Papatzani, Evangelia [EL] Ψαλλιδάκη, Τιμόκλεια[EN] Psallidaki, Timokleia [EL] Μίχα, Ειρήνη[EN] Micha, Irene [EL] Κανδύλης, Γεώργιος[EN] Kandylis, Georgios
Ημερομηνία:	02/12/2020
Περίληψη:	During the last three decades, since the beginning of the migration movements to Greece and until recently, the immigrant and refugee newcomers mostly followed self-housing trajectories in the cities, and especially in Athens, in the context of a market-led laissez-faire approach regarding housing, accommodation, and integration. The urban settlement of immigrants from the Balkans (since the 1990s), as well as of those from Middle East, Asia and Africa (since the mid-2000s), took place at the available and affordable residential stock of the central neighborhoods of Athens, following the relocation of part of the local population to the suburbs since the 1970s. In the context of strict migration laws, absence of housing policies, and the financial crisis, migrants’ settlement in Athens increased socio-economic inequalities and housing precarity. At the same time, it produced a geography of socio spatial mixing and ethnic diversity, which reduced social segregation and led to spatial proximity, establishment of networks, and the emergence of inter-ethnic cohabitation between newcomers and locals. Since early 2016, after the mass refugee arrivals, the closure of the “Balkan Corridor”, and the EU Turkey Statement, Greece started to transform into a country of massive obligatory stay for asylum seekers. Through a new national legal framework that followed the relevant EU regulations on refugees’ “reception”, specific asylum accommodation policies were established for the first time in Greece consisting of two main axes: On the one hand, the “campization” of asylum seekers’ accommodation in camps in the mainland, and on the other hand their accommodation in urban residential areas in apartments in block-of-flats or other buildings. In the case of the former, camps are usually located at the outskirts of the cities or in rural areas, thus (re)producing the spatial and social segregation of their inhabitants. As regards the latter, asylum seekers are accommodated in the socially and ethnically mixed urban neighborhoods of Athens, in close spatial proximity with locals and previously settled migrants. Thus, the accommodation system in Greece creates multiple and uneven geographies that (re)produce conditions of ongoing housing precarity for asylum seekers, an issue that has largely remained on the margins of the relevant scholarship. This presentation aims to explore the multiple geographies of precarity of the accommodation and housing policies for asylum seekers in metropolitan Athens. It is argued that the multiple geographies of precarity are formed through a complex grid of (socio-spatial) policies and regulations and consist of: a) A set of filtering criteria by which asylum seekers are divided into those ‘deserving’ and those ‘undeserving’ to be placed in urban accommodation. Filtering constitutes a continuous process of 2 producing precarity, as asylum seekers depend on constantly changing ‘vulnerability criteria’ that they have to fulfill in order to be placed in - or not evicted from - urban accommodation; b) The different and unequal types of accommodation and housing (camps and urban apartments) that are characterized by material and spatial inequalities. These differences create a multiplicity of precarious living conditions, based on different types of housing (tents, containers, buildings or apartments), facilities, sanitation and hygiene conditions, overcrowding, as well as deprivation that emerge in unequal ways in the different accommodation types; c) The “no-choice” basis on which asylum seekers are placed in accommodation - or evicted from it. The fact that asylum seekers cannot choose their accommodation place, type, and time until eviction on their own, deepens aspects of precarity and insecurity in everyday life. At the same time, the “no-choice” basis may interrupt pre-established social networks and processes of belonging in the city, thus not permitting a long-term process of socio-spatial settlement to unfold; d) The unequal access to social services and benefits, as asylum seekers living in camps don’t have the same opportunities for education, health care, legal support, and public services, as those residing in urban space. The recent extension of the COVID-19 lockdown only for those living in camps, enhances precarity as well as confinement and control in unequal ways in the accommodation system. This presentation argues that the multiple geographies of accommodation and housing policies for asylum seekers in metropolitan Athens constantly (re)produce conditions of precarity, instead of (pre)conditions for integration. The latter are hindered by the policies’ ambiguous impact on socio spatial identities, relationships, networks, patterns of navigation in the city, and processes of coexistence. The presentation draws on ongoing research in metropolitan Athens, Greece and the research methodology is based on both policies’ analysis and mapping, and on field research and semi structured interviews with asylum seekers and representatives of the relevant authorities
Γλώσσα:	Αγγλικά
Τόπος δημοσίευσης:	Online Conference
Σελίδες:	1
Θεματική κατηγορία:	[EL] Αστικές μελέτες[EN] Urban Studies
Λέξεις-κλειδιά:	Accommodation policies; Asylum Seekers; Athens; Precarity of space
Κάτοχος πνευματικών δικαιωμάτων:	© The Author(s) 2021
Όνομα εκδήλωσης:	Urban Europe, Precarious Futures? A Conference hosted by Coventry University and European Urban and Regional Studies Journal
Τοποθεσία εκδήλωσης:	Online Conference
Ημ/νία έναρξης εκδήλωσης:	02/12/2020
Ημ/νία λήξης εκδήλωσης:	02/12/2020
Σημειώσεις:	EURS Conference Program: https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/activities/urban-europe-precarious-futures Papatzani, E. (Evangelia), Psallidaki, T., Kandylis, G., & Micha, I. (2022). Multiple geographies of precarity: Accommodation policies for asylum seekers in metropolitan Athens, Greece. European Urban and Regional Studies, 29(2), 189-203. https://doi.org/10.1177/09697764211040742 This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme ‘Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020’ in the context of the project ‘Socio-spatial boundary-making and neighboring: Refugees’ accommodation in Athens, between institutional policies and everyday life’ (MIS 5049534).
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