In our first project “Empowering Communities of Greece I” we introduced our members to the idea of collective housing and management of space and studied the organisational and collective dynamics that such projects involve. With this project, we invested in analysing the topic deeper; with the support and knowledge of our collaborators, we worked on the practical exercise of acquiring a building collectively as an association. By approaching the topic practically, we prompted learning mechanisms that rely on collaboration, following the “learning by doing” approach. Our objectives were to i) Develop extensive knowledge and key skills in organisation, financing, administration and governance of cooperative housing projects as well as on group dynamics and collective management of space and ii) Facilitate the growth of a local knowledge network and of partnerships and practices for sustainable development of co-housing initiatives and the evolution of cooperative spaces in Greece.
In Athens 11.000 cultural heritage buildings are crumbling. Existing policies of preservation are ineffective due to bureaucratic frameworks, lack of financial support, public awareness and engagement. At the same time, inhabitants and communities are deprived of the ability to shape spaces for collaborative creative expression. What If some of these buildings were reclaimed by local communities for creatively expressing their knowledge and competencies, while making art and culture? Imagine a city whose inhabitants take care of each other and their living environment. The neighbourhood is the place to start. Communitism reclaims underutilised heritage buildings of Athens through creative commoning. By practising community and arts, alternatives to existing structures emerge. Through this project we aimed to empower local communities and help them become more resilient through education on collective ownership. Collective management of spaces is central to our work, as we believe that our method could provide solutions to the social issues we are raising- especially as rapid touristification intensifies the issue of availability of space for the needs of local communities which are currently being dislocated from the city cente