The Building Stock and the Evolving Social Relations and Neighbourhood Profiles in Central Athens between the Early 1970s and the Early 2020s

In the last 50 years (1970-2020) the centre of Athens was dominated by the typical Athenian apartment block built during the building boom of the 1960s and 1970s. This stock still accommodates about 70% of the population of the city centre (Municipality of Athens). This housing stock remained the same during these 50 years to a large extent, but residents changed much as well as the relations among them. The social and ethno-racial profile of central neighbourhoods changed substantially together with their position in the social status hierarchy of the neighbourhoods in the metropolitan area.

The proposed presentation focuses on the significant changes of the social profiles and relations among among the residents of the centre of Athens, although the housing stock, the type of housing and allocation system emained, more or less, the same. The main point is to provide evidence about the important changes in social relations and to claim that such changes are not necessarily linked (produced by) changes in the building stock and/or the housing allocation system.