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Exploring the social implications of dense and compact cities, this enlightening book looks at micro-scale segregation through several lenses. These include the ways that the housing market constantly reconfigures social mix, how the structure of the housing stock shapes it, and the ways that policies are deployed to manage these effects.

Taking a deep dive into micro-segregation in the socially mixed and dense centres of compact cities, the authors investigate the form and content of social and ethno-racial hierarchies at the micro-scale of different cities around the world and the ways these have evolved over time.

Vertical Cities considers the ways the materiality of such hierarchies affects the reproduction of social inequalities in today’s large cities.

Academics and researchers of urban sociology, housing, urban regeneration, urban studies and urban geography will find the original approach taken to this under-researched topic to be a vital resource. Practitioners and policy makers will find the innovative use of a common theoretical frame to analyse micro-scale social mix in vertical/compact cities informative when dealing with the management of neighbourhoods in inner cities.

The study of residential segregation and its implications in urban space follows long and differentiated scientific traditions around the globe. This chapter focuses on segregation and coexistance by providing an overview of the relevant scientific debates focused on the case of Athens. Special emphasis is placed on the conceptualisation of “vertical micro-segregation”. By tracing the evolution of the local scientific debate, the aim is to discuss the role played by the context in the conceptualisation and study of segregation in Athens. Low segregation levels in Athens directed scientific research to socio-spatial hierarchies and divisions at the micro-scale.

In this context, the typical Athenian multi-storey apartment building became a prominent terrain for the study of (vertically) socio-spatial inequalities and terms of coexistence at the micro-level of everyday life. As discussed in this chapter, low levels of (horizontal) segregation do not necessarily impede the increase of socio-spatial inequalities and polarisation. These observations raise serious questions about the assumptions embedded in conceptualisation of segregation globally. For Athens in particular, they call for further research about the impact of past and current developments in the housing sector on the restructurings of the social geography of Athens.

This article explores the dynamics and trends in the social geography of Athens, emphasizing the role of built space in dense central areas of the city dominated by multi-storey buildings (polykatoikia) built under the system of “antiparochi” or land-for-flats. It is based on a mixed methodology, combining different spatial scales, as well as on the questions produced by the ongoing ISTOPOL research program. In this article, we focus on two buildings, located in the central districts of Ampelokipi and Agios Panteleimonas, which allows us a first analysis of the in-depth material collected within the framework of the research program.

First, we question how segregation, as a phenomenon that describes the strong spatial, social, economic, professional, ethnic or other differentiations that are part of the urban space, is studied within the framework of the Athenian context. In a second time, the article tries to revisit questions already raised in the scientific debate about contemporary socio-spatial mutations in the southern European space, by adopting a micro-scale approach in the analysis of the history of two typical Athenian apartment buildings and the current reality of its inhabitants.

This chapter provides simple evidence on the unequal distribution among floors of social groups, tenures and ethnicities in the typical apartment blocks (polykatoikies) of Athens and briefly mentions the potential effects of this vertical segregation on the life-chances of their residents. The chapter proposes a novel mapping technique to depict vertical segregation, which depicts the intensity of vertical segregation and the social profile of the spaces in which it materializes.

Intensity is measured by the social distance between the advantaged and disadvantaged parts of the apartment building stock and social profiles distinguish, for example, upper middle-class neighborhoods with a minority of working class households isolated at the bottom of apartment blocks from working-class neighborhoods with a minority of upper middle-class households living at the top floors.

Contemporary urban societies are experiencing growing income inequality and rising socio-spatial differentiation. The implication of space in the reproduction of inequality has been extensively discussed in the literature; however, the social consequences of spatial hierarchies at the microscale are largely neglected. Among these hierarchies, the unequal distribution of socio-economic groups by floors in apartment buildings (i.e. vertical segregation) is probably the major form of micro-segregation. In this study, the patterns of vertical segregation in Athens and Budapest were investigated using microdata from the 2011 Greek and Hungarian censuses. The research findings reveal that the level of vertical segregation varies according to the diversity of quality within segments of the housing stock in both cities,

with older buildings being more vertically segregated. Moreover, the study demonstrates that despite differences in the broader socio-economic and political framework and housing systems, the vertical segregation of occupational groups follows similar patterns in both cities, where high-status groups tend to occupy upper levels and lower-class people are more concentrated at lower levels. The findings of this study provide an empirical basis for the analysis of social mix produced in different contextual frameworks of vertical segregation and raise questions about urban policies that can reduce the negative effects of micro-segregation for those who enjoy social mix at the expense of low housing quality in the affordable part of the stock.

This article estimates the effect of vertical segregation – across floors of apartment buildings – on educational attainment in the metropolitan area of Athens. This context offers an oppor- tunity to evaluate and discuss the complementarity between horizontal segregation (across neighbourhoods) and vertical seg- regation. Using census microdata, we observe that the share of individuals dropping out of school early is much higher for young residents of disadvantageous lower-floor apartments than for those living in upper floors.

This gap remains significant after controlling for all relevant personal, household, and neighbour- hood characteristics. This result suggests an effect of vertical segregation on educational outcomes in addition to neighbour- hood effects and individuals’ socio-economic status. Moreover, the findings of this article corroborate the claim that the target for public policies to increase social mix is not enough to address inequalities at the local level.

This paper presents the spatial distribution of multiple deprivation in Athens, and links these spatial patterns to the city’s urban development trajectory and the way housing is accessed. Multiple deprivation was measured as the combined concentration of disadvantageous employment situation, access to education and housing conditions. A principal components analysis was utilized for 20 variables from the three said domains. Two components were identified as statistically significant. The analysis covered approximately 3000 urban spatial analysis units (URANU), using data from the population censuses of 1991, 2001 and 2011.

The findings unveil that from 1991 to 2011, multiple deprivation in the urban periphery as well as in city center areas worsened. Conditions in many (but not all) working-class areas in the west of Athens, as well as in middle class suburbs in the east, improved or did not get worse. If compared to the urban development trajectory of the city, this distribution means that the historical East–West socio-economic division is getting less pronounced, whereas an important center–periphery dynamic is emerging. The filtering and sorting process of the housing market could explain those trends. It appears that the most affected populations are those outside the Greek family-centered and homeownership-based model of access to housing. 

Διοργάνωση σεμιναρίου από τις ομάδες του ΙΣΤΟΠΟΛ και του Κοινωνικού Άτλαντα της Αθήνας τίτλο “Building an International Network of Urban Social Atlases” (13 & 14 Οκτωβρίου 2022).

Το εργαστήριο φιλοξενήθηκε από το Εθνικό Κέντρο Κοινωνικών Ερευνών (ΕΚΚΕ) και τη Γαλλική Σχολή Αθηνών (ΕΦΑ). Ο σκοπός του ήταν να προσκαλέσει ομάδες που εργάζονταν σε αστικούς κοινωνικούς άτλαντες ή παρόμοια ερευνητικά προγράμματα. Ο στόχος ήταν να παρουσιαστεί εν συντομία η δραστηριότητα κάθε ομάδας και να συζητηθούν τα πιθανά οφέλη από ένα δίκτυο αστικών κοινωνικών άτλαντων.

Exploring the social implications of dense and compact cities, this enlightening book looks at micro-scale segregation through several lenses. These include the ways that the housing market constantly reconfigures social mix, how the structure of the housing stock shapes it, and the ways that policies are deployed to manage these effects.

Σύντομες παρουσιάσεις :

T Maloutas, Harokopio University, Department of Geography (ISTOPOL team)

N Karadimitriou, UCL, Bartlett School of Planning (ISTOPOL team)

Ch Mattiucci, University of Naples Federico II, Department of Architecture

I Dimitrakou, University of Zurich, Department of Geography, (ISTOPOL team)

S Spyrellis, National Centre for Social Research, Institute of Social Research (ISTOPOL team)

Συζήτηση : Edmond Preteceille, CNRS & Sciences Po, Observatoire sociologique du changement (OSC, UMR 7049)

Scientific Seminal organised by the ISTOPOL project. The seminar’s aim is to present and discuss/debate:

(1) The edited volume “Vertical Cities. Micro-segregation, Social Mix and Urban Housing Markets”, by T. Maloutas and N. Karadimitriou, containing chapters on micro-segregation in 20 cities in Europe, South and Central America and East Asia, which will be published next October by Edward Elgar.

(2) The main results of our 2-year research project ISTOPOL (Stories of apartment blocks in Athens and their impact on the city’s social geography) which is ending next June.

Scientific Seminal co-organised by the ISTOPOL project with le Réseau des Écoles françaises a l’étranger, L’École française d’Athènes, L’École française de Rome, Harokopeio University and CNRS UMR Géographie-Cités

As an extension of the meetings in Barcelona and Turin in 2019, as well as the webinar in Athens in 2020 led by the Métropoles program, with the participation of the Urban Observatory program, the French Schools of Athens and Rome organized two days of exchange around social science research. The event is co-organized by the ISTOPOL project.
The presentations will question a central question: how is transnational ownership developing today in the metropolises of Southern Europe?

By revisiting the contributions of previous meetings on the transformations of housing, and by addressing both the modalities of these investments and the spatial housing and urban practices that result from them, this meeting aims to decompartmentalize the study of transnational real estate circulations. In order to do so, we take into consideration owners with a heterogeneous social profile and plural real estate capital: main and secondary residences, short and long-term rental accommodation. From Athens to Lisbon, from Naples to Gstaad, from Paris to Barcelona, ​​it will be a question of confronting recent or current fields, of reflecting on the common avenues of analysis that may emerge or even of exchanging on the practices of survey and research protocols to best understand these circulations and their multiple effects on the territories.