Folding

From the desire of the city to the city of desire

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Abstract

Athens is a city that has grown immensely after its establishment as a capital, from around 7.000 inhabitants in 1834 to around 3,1 million in 2019. After 2006, due to various economic and political reasons, mainly through the implementation of additional taxation in the building sector and in property ownership, building activities have declined and the discussion concerning the bio-political dimension and the capacities of the current urban environment of Athens have become more intense. Focusing in the neighbourhood of Sepolia, this research seeks to offer an understanding of productivity beyond the binary of built/ unbuilt space and instead, see productive processes as offering the ground for individuation in the urban environment. Since the production of the city and its capacities affect each other in a reciprocal way, architectural processes can offer a problematised thinking on how the built environment can generate conditions for the development of individuation. Towards a new urban subject, desire is perceived as a force that enables a shift in the understanding of the production of space in Athens: from the desire for private space to the desire for new urban actions.