“Trapped” in a new future: Case of
Athens, Greece
Social and spatial segregation of municipality of Athens and possible
solutions
Aliona Cerednicenco
Urban studies
Masters (Two-Years) 30 credits
Supervisor Defne Kadioglu Spring Semester 2020
Abstract
The mass displacement of people is a global phenomenon, inherent in human nature and the need for survival. Over the last 30 years, Greece became a destination country for different populations. Although the last wave of displacement people, starting from 2015, found Greece in an unstable economic situation due to the economic crisis. Since 2015, Greece has been facing the two types of crises: economic and refugee. The refugee crisis found Greece, like many other EU countries, unprepared for the number of people that they received. From that perspective Greece refugee crisis can be viewed as a crisis of legitimacy and strategies.
During the last five years, Greece made significant steps in the regulation of the refugee situation, especially after the EU-Turkey agreement in March 2016, when Greece officially became a country of destination from a transit country. However, the laws and ministerial decisions instead of decreasing the residential segregation led to an increase of social segregation. This paradox can be observed in the case of the Athenian municipality.
This paradox defined the starting point of this thesis and aimed for the investigation of spatial and social segregation in the center of Athens. To study this theme qualitative data were collected for analysis, including, semi-structured interviews, analysis of official documents and observation.
The funding of this thesis illustrates that Greece never lost its status as a transit country. And that the biggest challenge that Athenian municipality is facing is the integration of refugees in the Greek society. The undeveloped integration section shows significant distancing between Greeks and refugees.
Keywords: spatial segregation, social segregation, municipality of Athens, Victoria square, integration
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my supervisor Defne Kadioglu, for her guidance, support and understanding during the writing process of this thesis. I would also like to thank people that took part in the interview process, for their time and inputs that they provide for this thesis. In addition, I would like to thank a person that reviewed this thesis and provided valuable insight and feedback.
Most importantly, a huge thanks to my support system, my family and friends.
Especially, thank you to my mother, that is always there for me.
Table of content
Abstract 1
Acknowledgments 2
List of Figures and Maps 4
List of Abbreviations 5
1 Introduction 6
1.1 Research Objectives and Questions and Thesis Outline 7
2 Background 9
2.1 Historical approach 9
2.2 The center of Athens 12
3 Theoretical Framework 16
3.1 Spatial segregation 17
3.2 Social segregation 18
3.3 Public space 20
3.3 Summary of theoretical framework 22
4 Research Methodology 23 4.1 Semi-depth interviews 24 4.2 Case study 25 4.2.1 Official documents 26 4.2.2 Observation 26 4.2.3 Interviews 27 4.3 Limitations 28 4.4 Ethical issues 29
5 Analysis and Discussion 29
5.1 Administrative support or continuous adaptation to changes 29
5.4 Case study 36
5.4.1 Square quality 36
5.4.2 Observations and Interviews 38
5.5 Summary of the chapter 39
6 Conclusion 40
References 42
Appendix 1 48
List of Figures and Maps
Figure 1 “Timeline of three refugee waves” 10
Figure 2 “Schema of Attractiveness of public spaces” 23
Figure 3 “Main stakeholders and five stages to structure the understanding
of segregation” 25
Figure 4 “Questions for short interviews 29
Map 1 “The Athens Municipality and its seven districts” 15
Map 2 “Percentage of ESTIA apartments per district in municipality of Athens
for the 2016” 16
List of Abbreviations
AFM Tax roll number
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease
EU European Union
ESTIA Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation
GSI Global Segregation Index
HELIOS Hellenic Integration Support for Beneficiaries of International Protection
MENA Middle East and North Africa
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
1 Introduction
The mass displacement of people is a global phenomenon, inherent in human nature and the need for survival. The motivations to migration are a combination of different factors, such as poverty, unemployment, war environmental conditions, political uncertainty, diseases etc. Since the 1990s when Greece became a destination for the immigrant population, additionally Greece has been one of the top destinations for over 30 years. His long journey of displacement populations affected the social geography of Greece, and especially Athens. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to explore how the concentration of refugees in the municipality of Athens affects the housing situation, social interaction as well as the usage of common space. Thereby, this study investigates the complicated housing solution for refugees and the paucity of the government response mechanisms.
After almost 25 years later, a new face of human mobility has emerged in its massive form. It is the largest refugee and migration movement to Europe since WWII. Thousands of refugees, due to the deteriorating situation in the MENA region, as well as immigrants, have crossed borders to EU member countries. The sociopolitical developments and the blockade of the Balkan route have “trapped” part of the refugee population in the Greek territory. This “trapped” side of the situation can be viewed for both parties, the refugee one side and the Greek another side, as the Greek state experiences the need of the effective management of the incoming population and balancing social inclusion and maintaining social cohesion, during the times of economic crisis. When considering the refugee crisis in Greece, the reality is that the country is facing the second crisis after the economic crisis, and it is becoming relevant to argue about segregation, physical and social segregation. Particularly in the city of Athens, known for its population mobility during the 1970s (Maloutas and Arapoglou, 2011), rejuvenation of the city center in 1990s characterized by social polarization (Maloutas, 2007).(reference).
As the massive influx of migrants became an issue for the EU and Greece in 2015, the population's mobility reached its peak in the period so-called long summer (spring-summer 2015 through 19 March 2016 (EU-Turkey agreement) (Oikonomakis, 2018). Greece before the agreement was a country with transit status, after March 2016 this changed and Greece turned
into the country of destination for all people that arrived after the sign of the agreement (Oikonomakis, 2018). This new status of migrants, highlights that the previous treatment of them as people in emergency had critical disadvantages. The emergency housing situation pushed the social perspective on the last position in the case of the refugee crisis. This negligence of social aspects throughout five past years reflects the difficulties of legitimacy of refugees and asylum seekers, the accommodation and the social integration of them in Greek society.
As the permits to enter Greece has significantly decreased, and increased the applications for asylum for the people that were “trapped” in the mainland in Greece (Hellenic statistics, 2020). In this new phase that Greece and refugees three steps are important to be considered through this thesis the space and its limitation, the time, in addition to integration. Previous studies described the relationship between two stakeholders, such as the state and NGOs, while this study attempts to bridge three stakeholders, which are state, NGOs and refugees (Maloutas, 2007; Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011). Moreover, this study will illustrate the relationship to the segregation in the city of Athens and the usage of the public space, such as Victoria Square.
1.1 Research Objectives and Questions and Thesis Outline
This research focuses on the emerging configurations of socio spatial relationships and effects on the urban central area of Athens, in times of major socio-economic crisis of the country. This perspective remains under-research since the 1990s with the development of different theories and concepts and continued interest in investigation. One of the main concerns within the refugee research is the housing situation of refugees. An adequate housing for refugees can be seen as one of the leading ways of integration in established society and sufficient usage of common spaces.
The aim of this thesis is to explore and describe the role of socio spatial relationships in segregated areas within the center of Athens and develop a clear understanding of the housing refugee situation which will contribute in the process of suggestion of possible solutions.
In order to address the research aim, the following interlinked objectives are formulated to guide the in-depth exploration of socio spatial segregation aspects:
- to illustrate the current housing situation of refugees in Athens
- to compare the new asylum seeking law with the previous one and emphasizes a spatial strategy, if that exist
- to describe how refugees affected the social and spatial map of center of Athens Therefore, the main research question of this thesis is:
How does the refugee “crisis” affect the social geography of the urban center of Athens, Greece?
There are two sub questions to develop the topic and investigate one of its aspects in depth, such as a usage of common space.
1. What is the current housing situation of refugees in Athens? Is that housing allocation of refugees leading to spatial segregation, in an already a lot segregated area of the center of Athens?
2. How are the public places (such as squares etc.) being used by refugees and locals? The remainder of this thesis is structured as follows.
The second chapter describes the background aspects that are associated with the main topic of spatial and social segregation. In the background aspects were included the historical background of the displacement populations and how they affected the center of Athens, starting from the 1990s till nowadays. This chapter also covers the main policies about migration and asylum seekers in Greece, which works as helpful input for later analysis and discussion in the thesis. The third chapter attempts to provide the theoretical background of the spatial and social segregation that is relevant for the Athenian case. To investigate the segregation in depth the social and spatial segregation were investigated separately, to highlight the different meanings of them. The theoretical chapter ends with theoretical positioning about public spaces and the components that can illustrate a public space as attractive.
The following chapter demonstrates the methodologies that were used to collect data. The collection of the data consists of four components, semi-structured interviews, short-structured interviews, observation and documents analysis. This chapter ends with limitation of the thesis and consideration of ethical issues.
All previous chapters establish the chapter five of analysis and discussion. This chapter offers answers to thesis questions and sub-questions. In addition, this chapter concludes with a discussion on the segregation topic.
Finally, chapter six includes a sum of evidence and analysis, and assessing the development of several aspects of this thesis into further research in the field. Chapter six ends with possible suggestions as a solution to the topic of segregation in Athens.
2 Background
This chapter addressed the issue of segregation in the center of Athens through a brief illustration of the historical background. And to understand the current situation in Athens for the timeline presentation nine crucial dates were to be light out (fig. 1). This chronological approach demonstrates the housing and migration policies that led to the current “trapped” situation for refugees and natives in the city of Athens. In addition, this chapter highlights the operation of two housing programs, such as ESTIA and HELIOS.
Figure 1. Timeline of three refugee waves
2.1 Historical approach
This chronological approach illustrates three main migration waves. The first migration wave started in 1990, and the migration population during that period for this thesis would be called economic emigrants. The second wave started in 2000, the populations of people that arrived from different African countries were identified as well as economic emigrants by the state, however in this thesis they will be named as “refugees”. And the last wave started in 2012 for
Greece, with its peak during the summer 2015, the displacement people of this wave will be named as refugees and asylum seekers.
Before the detailed illustration of each wave it is important to highlight the significant native movement during two previous decades. The industrialization in the 1970s gave a new life to the center of Athens, with small fabrics and businesses, as well as it was the beginning of the
so-called polikatoikia era (Koutoumanou, 2018). High apartment buildings made their
appearance, with small apartments and small balconies, became attractive to the high income class. And the whole centre in a short period of time occupied by the high class. The inside movement of population from rural areas to the capital, was a starting point when the high class population moved to suburban areas of Athens away from the center and the working class. This inside movements had as a consequence that a big amount of apartments in the city centre of Athens remained abandoned. Those abandoned apartments became the housing solution in the 1990s.
The 1990s’ associated with the great mobility of economic migrants to Greece, especially from 1 Albania and ex-Soviet Union countries after its dissolution. This time the amount of migrants was only 7% of the whole population of Greece and followed by changes in migration policies that partly applied to date (Kotzamanis, 2006). Newcomers were allocated in the big cities, such as Athens and Thessaloniki and managed in a short period of time to socially integrate , and consequently improved labor conditions in Greece and their own financial conditions (Kandylis, Maloutas & Sayas, 2012). However, the preferences of housing in the cheap center city of Athens followed by degradation of historical center and reshaped the social map of the whole city (Arapoglou & Maloutas, 2011).
On the other hand, during the second wave, individuals from Africa, such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Cameroon, in addition to other north countries of Europe moved to Greece (Soultani, 2018). These people were devoured by civil wars, armed conflicts, unstable political situations, poverty and hunger, their only solution to move to other countries and ask for asylum. In Greece those people were named as migrants, as in the 2000s Greek state did not have any asylum or refugee policy before 2011. In 2011the Greek government established an asylum service and first
1The migration of this decade will be called as economic migrants to separate it from the other two waves
reception service by the law number 3907/2011 . People that arrived during that period for a long 2 time were undocumented migrants, due to the lack of the law they could not register. So as to survive, many of them became illegal sellers on the street, by selling fake bags and clothes. This population faced housing problems, as without documents it was hard to rent any place, and usually they were living in big groups of people in small apartments somewhere in the centre of Athens or even in the streets.
In regards to the third wave, it began during 2012 where the first wave of dislocated people for Greece began in 2012 when the first inflows of refugees arrived in the country, mainly from Eastern Mediterranean countries (Gemenetzi and Papageorgiou, 2017). During the same year, an agreement was signed between EU and Turkey, whereas Greece was considered as a transit country (Gemenetzi and Papageorgiou, 2017). Furthermore, the peak of newcomers was reported in 2015 with more than million migrants entering Greece (UNHCR, 2020), and since then this big influx of people is the so-called refugee “crisis” or long refugee summer. Although it is imperative to separate these mass arrivals in Greece into two phases, before and after the EU and Turkey’s agreement and the closure of the Balcanian route.
The end of the transit status for Greece followed by the status of forced destination country. During March 2016 Athens and its residents (locals and newcomers) ended up being “trapped” within the absence of a straight housing strategy and migration policy. Consequently, the center of Athens can be described as an overcrowded area of refugees who are suffering with unpleasant living conditions. This Athenian situation presents the refugee “crisis” not from the perspective of sheer numbers of people entering the country, but from the ankle of government unprepared position to provide humanitarian intervention (Alcalde, 2016).
This new chapter of Greece as a country of destination led to several reformulation of migration laws and the development of laws for asylum seeking (Law No 4375/2016 , 4636/2019). The 3 newest law for asylum seeking was published at the end of 2019 (Law No 4636/2019 ), and still 4 it is unable to address the housing situation of refugees. The government cannot handle the
2Governmental Gazette A’7/26/01.2011. Law No. 3907/2011: Establishment of an Asylum Service and First Reception Service. Retrieved from
https://www.kodiko.gr/nomologia/download_fek?f=fek/2011/a/fek_a_7_2011.pdf&t=78d11afd4ead6f34213402dc2e45caf1
3Governmental Gazette 51/A/3.4.2016. Law No. 4374/2016: On the organization and operation of the Asylum Service, the Appeals Authority, the Reception and Identification Service. Retrieved from
https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/kat-allodapoi/prosphuges-politiko-asulo/nomos-4375-2016-phek-51-a-3-4-2016.html
4Governmental Gazette 169/A/1.11.2019. Law No. 4636/2019: On international protection and other provisions. Retrieved from
https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/kat-allodapoi/prosphuges-politiko-asulo/nomos-4636-2019-phek-169a-1-11-2019.html
housing support for refugees in Athens and this role was undertaken by UNHCR and NGOs (Gemenetzi and Papageorgiou, 2017). Nonetheless, a chain of events that took place in Moria (Lesvos) where different NGOs were accused of financial abuse supporting they received during previous years led to announcement from th Greek government of application of a new strict law of NGOs operation (Joint Ministerial Decision 3063/2020 ). And even though this thesis does5 not investigate the case of new NGOs law, it becomes obvious that differentiations in NGOs operations may bring difficulties for refugees to find a place to stay, because some NGOs will face the need to change the strategy of operation.
As a final point, the Joint Ministerial Decision 13348/2020 that will begin in October 2020 will 6 affect the accommodation system that exists and will create instability within the refugee populations, NGOs and other solidarity organizations.
2.2 The center of Athens
The first part of this chapter is used as foundation-stone in understanding the refugee crisis in Greece from 2015 till 2020. In this second section of this chapter will review and establish the link between the previous relevant literature research from housing and space usage. Starting from general knowledge about the refugee crisis in Greece, then proceeds to address the local perspectives on Athens' case, the central area.
Since the 1990s till nowadays the center of Athens is still experiencing different alterations. The center was abandoned by several social groups, especially middle and high class (Maloutas, 2007). The relocation of the population, as well as the level of class and ethnic segregation remain on a low level. During the wave of economic migration movements from Albania and ex-Soviet Union, the abandoned areas were filled again in the center of Athens, as they were affordable for economic migrants, thus the immigrants of that decade revitalized the labor market and limited population losses, they became an easy target to blame for the decline in quality living conditions of the center, decline that was a pre-existing conditions of it (Kaltsa and Maloutas, 2015). The labor market of the decade was installed in the center, because of the cheap
5 Governmental Gazette 1382/B/14.4.2020. Joint Ministerial Decision 3063/2020: Defining the operation of “Greek and Foreign NGOs. Retrieved
from: https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/kat-allodapoi/koine-upourgike-apophase-3063-2020.html
6Government Gazette 1199/B/7.4.2020. Joint Ministerial Decision 13348/20: Terms of provision of material support under “ESTIA II” rental accommodation scheme for asylum seekers. Retrieved from
https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/inner.php/kat-allodapoi/prosphuges-politiko-asulo/koine-upourgike-apophase-oik-13348-2020.html?print=1
real estate market and the bigger space. In 2000 the picture of the center of Athens remained mostly the same, with more and more newcomers that wanted to live in the capital at any costs, even if they ended up homeless. Over the last five years these changes have shown its most painful side, due to the economic crisis that the whole country is facing.
The EU and Greece were not prepared for the incremental amount of refugees, hence the Greek state was found without previous knowledge in the field of refugees and without a stable asylum program. The first law in 2016 indicated the lack of spatial dimension (Gemenetzi and Papageorgiou, 2017) and the integration aspect. The following laws and ministerial decisions have caused more complications for local authorities to handle.
One of these local authorities is Athens, and for this thesis the concentration is on the municipality of Athens that consists of seven districts (map 1). The most intriguing point for 7 many refugees was and still is, the city of Athens, as it is the capital and city with its own harbor (Kreichauf, 2018). Correspondingly, Athens’ city government was the first to introduce a department for migration and refugee affairs (Kreichauf, 2018). It adopted some permanent solution for accommodating refugees in the centre of Athens in forms of self-accommodation or self-organized housing (Trandaroglou et. al, 2019). The Athenian squats were organized with the help of locals and activists, because of the limited amount for accommodation of rented apartments by NGOs. The squats were located in the centre of Athens without illustrating the ghetto concept, as greek refugees movements and the locality of them in one area cannot consider those areas as ghetto but mostly as mixed areas (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011).
7 To facilitate the writing the municipality in Athens is described as the centre of Athens. This adoption is not completely right as the municipality
of Athens contains 7 districts, some are more central than others. The Athens Municipality and its 7 districts:
The 1st district includes areas such as Kolonaki, Exarchia, Plaka Koukaki, Makrigianni. This district can be characterised by a large number of modern buildings in the district. Also, this area has different levels between the buildings in the quantity and the quality.
The 2nd district includes areas such as Neos Kosmos, Dourgouti, Gounia, Ilisia and Metz. This district has a lot of demolished buildings and the height of them reising as they get closer to the centre of Athens.
The 3rd district includes (composed/consists) areas such as Ano Petralona, Kato Petralona and Botanikos. Mostly consist of abandoned buildings. The 4th district consists of areas such as Nirvana, Sepolia, Kolokynthous, Kolonos, and Academia Platonos. It is the most famous residential area with buildings of mixed usage apartments on the up floors and shops on the ground floors.
The 5th district consisted of the areas as Prompona, Rizoupoli, Ano Patisia and Agios Eleftherios. Illustrates the picture of mixed buildings from one to four storey houses and some buildings with gardens.
The 6th district includes areas such as Plateia Amerikis, Kypseli, Plateia Attikis, Victoria Square. The image of this area mostly presents block apartment buildings and eclectic forms of buildings.
The 7th district was about Kountouriotika, Goudi, Ampelokipoi, Gyzi, Girokomeio, Ellinoroson and Erythros areas. This district mostly has three storey modern buildings and building complexes of refugee housing.
Map. 1 The Athens Municipality and its seven districts. Source: http://modmov.ellet.gr/maps/#
The answer to the limited amount of accommodation was the ESTIA program and guarantee 8 human rights (Kourachanis, 2018). ESTIA was established in order to improve the living conditions of the refugees and enhance their way of living properly (Kourachanis, 2018). Papatzani (2020) illustrates the thin line between what ESTIA originally concerns for “integration”, as it states in the naming, and its actual function as shelter for “emergency” governmental framework. The ESTIA accommodation program targets the urban fabric of Greek cities, and it can be considered as a temporary reception and accommodation facilities for asylum seekers or reception and identification centers. By the end of July 2020 the total number of
8The original first line of the Estia site states that this program can be viewed as “ A new chapter in the lives of refugees in Greece ” (ESTIA, 2020). From 2015 when the largest number of refugees arrived in Greece a series of sporadic programs and NGOs were targeting asylum seekers and refugees in purpose of directly or indirectly to affect the sociospatial pattern of the urban space of Athens. The ESTIA program has a significant place in this urban change, as being part of the UNHCR program with collaboration with Greek Government, local authorities and NGOs, and providing urban accommodation and cash assistance support. The amount of cash assistance is proportionate to the family size, it ranges from 90 euros for individuals involved in the ESTIA program to 550 euros for a family of seven members (UNHCR, 2020/June). Nowadays new crucial questions have been raised about the settlement of asylum seekers in cities, as one of the essential criteria to receive the accommodation support is that the apartment rental is agreed between the owner and each ESTIA partner, which means when someone receive the legal status of refugee that person have to leave the program and the apartment. The ESTIA program started in 2016 as a program for “Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation” and it was addressed to asylum seekers who meet the certain criteria and as a part of family reunion (Papatzani, 2020).
places were 25,783 (97.1% occupancy), 11,906 places were located in Attica (54%) (UNHCR, 2020/July). In the time of emergency for accommodating refugees and asylum seekers the main concern was to find a big number of accommodation places, as a result this strategy led to rental of whole buildings in the center of Athens (previously empty buildings) (Papatzani, 2020) and concentrated people in one place. The map 2 shows the percentage of the apartments that are used by ESTIA. District number six contains the biggest number of apartments for refugees, in areas such as Attiki Metro Station, Kato Patisia, Kypseli Square, Amerikis Square, Koliatsou Square, and Victoria Square.
Map. 2 Percentage of ETSIA apartments per District in Municipality of Athens for the 2016. Source: (Papatzani, 2020).
After the legal registration of the person as a refugee, the cavalry of accommodation starts once again. The new law about the refugee services in 2019 was suggesting the timeline of six months for smooth integration of refugees in the Greek society. But, the new restrictions that were
established in April 2020, reduced the six months into 30 days. The Greek state suggested the solution once again, with the introduction of the HELIOS program. The duration of the program 9 is only six months and after that refugees are claimed to be independent members of society. Both programs require improvements that will be discussed in the analysis chapter as a possible suggestion of the solutions in the segregation phenomenon.
3 Theoretical Framework
In this chapter, the main focus will be on the concept of spatial and social segregation that has required combining theories within the discipline of social geography, such as vertical, spatial and social segregation, uneven geographies, the right to the city and the usage of the public space. Another important discipline to view the concept of segregation is through the different policies which were established over the last five years, ever since the refugee crisis started. The number of newcomers in Greece by the year of 2019 was 74,613 arrivals, which indicated a 48% increase in comparison to the previous year (AIDA, 2019). As a result, a rising number of newcomers faced issues with finding accommodation. Residential segregation produces a holistic picture of processes and impacts of social segregation. According to Maloutas (2007) segregation is a complex phenomenon when someone tries to apply it in Athenian reality. The significant fact about segregation in Athens is that it cannot be put in the previous theoretical frames that are known, such as Chicago school. While, different factors make this phenomenon difficult in understanding such as mobility of population, labor market dynamics, the housing structure and homeownership (Maloutas, 2016). As for this study, there are two factors presented in order to raise the mobility of the population and the labor market some brief elements of housing structure will be presented, especially illustrated in the meaning of vertical social segregation (Maloutas and Spyrellis, 2015).
9 HELIOS is the project of IOM. Duration of the program is from June 2019 till November 2020. The programs components are integration courses, accommodation, employability support, integration monitoring and sensitization of the host community. The objectives of the program is to increase the beneficiaries prospects and make them autonomous and active members of the Greek society. The target group of the program are recognized refugees, they were part of the ESTIA program or FILOXENIA program and continue into the HELIOS one.
3.1 Spatial segregation
Segregation is defined as a continued and notable urban problem of urban fabric (Ettlinger, 2019). It is also interpreted as a problem of democratic society, especially when considering the variations such as poverty, inequality and additionally spatial mixture (Ettlinger, 2019). The concept of segregation can significantly detail the structure and the organization of the city, a place that primarily negotiates diversity (Ettlinger, 2019). This understanding of the city has broad scientific implications. Segregation is a key method of accommodating differences, spatial and social ones. Spatial segregation is usually attributed to economic differences.
According to Fábos and Kibreab (2007) spatial segregation of refugees can be viewed as a concept that reduces the social integration of refugees with locals. Refugees allocation all together lead to previously neglected lack of the resources, such as housing. Policies of solutions can create more problems, such as spatial segregation that lead to minimization of the refugees’ contribution to the economic and social progress of the hosting society. State of spatial segregation is a residential segregation of a group of people, when the group is defined according to one or more dimensions, such as ethnicity, age, income or other social characteristics (Andersson, Lyngstad and Sleutjes, 2018). Usually residential segregation is associated with ethnic and/or socioeconomic segregation, and reflects the problem of ghettos.
Academic interest in segregation started in the USA with analysis of black ghettos in US metropolitan areas. Though the concept of American segregation differs from the European one, and it is a completely different phenomenon in Greece. Usually residential segregation is associated with other phenomena such as crime, low school quality and poor housing conditions (Andersson et al., 2018). Segregation on academic level of interest is also associated with such meanings as “neighbourhood effect”, social cohesion and social capital (Andersson et al., 2018). In the case of Greece residential segregation is associated with change of social geography especially in Athens and its center (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011).
Fujita (2012) described the definition of Chicago school, and highlighted that this definition cannot be applied to the Athens case. The low residential segregation can be explained by the high class inequality that exists in Athens. Athens cannot be described as a segregated city, but can be described as the city that produces the class inequality. This form of segregation has its
bases in the recent economic crisis that country experienced. The economic crisis ended leaving behind insecurity, unemployment and financial instability.
The three dimensions of segregation, such as unevenness, exposure and centralization are relevant for the Athenian case (Arapoglou, 2006). All three dimensions can be applied in the case of Athens, where unevenness is all about uneven distribution of immigrants in Athenian urban fabric. On the other hand, the exposure is about the proximity of immigrants to immigrants of the same occupation, and if during the time Arapoglou was writing his study the proximity levels that combine occupational and ethnic were rare in the Athenian space, nowadays this is one of the main characteristic of the refugee population in the municipality of Athens. The last dimension of residential segregation is the centralization. Since the 1990s migrants and consequently refugees are more centralized than Greeks.
From the above evidence it becomes clear that the classic definition of spatial segregation as known from Chicago school definition, cannot be applied in the urban fabric of Athenian center. In the case of Athens, and especially in its center, the mixture of different ethnics is a common phenomenon since the 1990s (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011). The center of Athens since the economic crisis is full of ethnic minorities and poor working class natives. Although the mixture over the year increases, the social distance between groups becomes more visible and shows a different spectrum of segregation, such as its social face.
3.2 Social segregation
Segregation studies often over-represent the residential, ethnic or economic aspects of segregation and neglecting the social one. The usual way to measure segregation is to conduct research at a single spatial scale, mostly metropolitan regions, cities, neighborhoods or census tracts are involved and its tactic excludes the social aspect. The demand over the past few years is the development of multiscalar measurements of segregation, to light the aspect of social segregation. Understanding the two sides of the same coin as segregation (residential and social) will lead to a better understanding of the spatial pattern of the city of Athens.
Blumenstock and Fratamico (2013) indicated in their study the obvious distinction between spatial and social segregation and provide the definition of them. Social segregation, interaction
between people. And spatial segregation co-presence of individuals in physical location . This
definition of social segregation can be extended and viewed as part of social cohesion of the society (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011).
The spatial composition of Athens changes with different migration flows since the 1990s (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011). The current refugee inflows during the economic crisis that Greece experiences, the limited employment opportunities, the demand for affordable housing, made the social mix within the municipality of Athens more obvious, but still the level of spatial segregation remained approximately the same and social segregation raised (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011).
The rise of social segregation can be explained in the concept of vertical segregation (Maloutas and Spyrellis, 2015). Back in the 1990s when the small industries and the high and middle class moved to suburban areas of Athens city and the municipality of Athens began to be inhabited by migrants, Greek natives lived on upper floors, while immigrants occupy lower floors within the same building (AArapoglou and Maloutas, 2011; Koutoumanou, 2018). Although the current of new arrivals did not change the municipality of Athens, they affect the social cohesion that can be viewed from the perspective of housing deprivation and the living conditions (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011).
The starting point for increasing numbers of social polarization and inequality has its roots in the 1990s, when the first massive foreignt populations arrived in Greece (Maloutas, 2007). Maloutas (2007) characterized this phenomenon as paradoxical coexistence when segregation decreases and the polarization of people increases. In fact, many people tend to associate the degradation of the center of Athens with residential segregation and separation of ethnic groups as a normal. The social segregation that reduces the social interaction between groups and individuals characterized by Peach (1996) as a negative phenomenon. This form of the lack of relations with different groups, according to the same author, can lead to mistrust between individuals. If, on the one hand the concentration of one group in one place can be viewed as a helping tool for the group and a supportive instrument. Conversely the separation from the dominant ground, in this case Greeks, lead to property difficulties and massive housing discrimination (Peach, 1996). Seems that social distance, which rises in the residential separation, becomes a part of problematic assimilation of foreign population in Greek society.
It is also important to denote that the line between residential segregation and social segregation is very thin. Residential segregation has as impact the social segregation. The Athenian case presents the significant exception of this classical understanding of social and spatial segregation, even during the massive influx from 2015 the residential segregation decreased and social one reached its peaks (Gripsiou and Fotopoulou, 2017; Maloutas, 2007). While on the other hand, social segregation affected public spaces as well, locals were avoiding them. The squares of Athens, and especially Victoria square, till the agreement was signed used as a transit place, where people were living in camps and waiting for them to go forward in Europe. In 2020, Victoria square again is full with refugees.
3.3 Public space
Lately, on occasion of a new joint ministerial decision the picture of Victoria Square changed, and brought back to memory pictures from 2015, with refugees to frame the square. Back in 2015 during the so-called long summer of refugees this square was occupied by refugees that stayed there for months in camps. If Omonia square was known as a place of meeting for migrants then Victoria square was the destination point for refugees (Arapoglou and Maloutas, 2011). Refugees that arrived from the islands, through the decongestion plan of the islands, occupied the square and changed its image once again.
Number of influential urban planners like Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl highlight that the quality of public urban space affects our behaviors in that space and how we experience the space (Jacobs, 2010; Gehl, 2010). Some places are welcoming for the visitors and some pushing them away. In case of Victoria Square not the quality of the place but the presence of refugees in the place makes people react and perceive that place differently.
The appropriation of the space or the behavior of people in the space can be defined by the surrounding building, transition places and concentration of other people in the space. The space determines the co-presence of the people and can be understood in terms of mutual attractiveness (Urry, 2010) or civic unattractiveness.
Nonetheless, attractiveness or unattractiveness of the public place can be defined as well by how others use it. Sennet (2010) distinguished between the public and private realm and the meaning of knowledge that people have about others in those places. If home is a private place where
everyone is usually familiar to you, the public realm is “ a place where strangers meet” and can be identified by physical features like squares, streets, cafes etc. By this broad definition of public realm intuitively the synonym public urban space can be used. The public realm consists of people that are unknown to each other or only know the occupation of the other and integrate and formulate relations formal or informal. The sense of “ openness” of the public realm declares the possibilities of co-existing of different people in the same place. Sennett (2010) paid attention to borders and boundaries of the public realms and their “ porosity” which allows the movement between the invisible borders of the public realm.
Invisible borders exist in public spaces, as Jacobs (2010) illustrated in her text the tension of people choosing between sharing nothing and sharing too much in public spaces, and destroy some borders. The end of invisible borders, according to Jacobs (2010) develop in some places so-called “eye-catchers” or “highly visual spots”, for example Victoria Square has the first thing that someone can see when leaving the metro is the “new name” of the AZADI square, written in afghan language. Also, visitors of the square evidence that some privacy is missing in the square. Besides the physical features, the character of a place can be the presence of people, that drawing the attention of others. To perceive a place as safe several measures can be taken in account according to Jacobs (2010), such as “eyes on the street”.
The above characteristics of the public space can develop a schema that can present what public space is and what features should contain it to attract people and make them feel safe in that place. The fig. 2 shows the combination of features that are important to have an attractive public space, such as a square. Those elements overlap each other or can be assigned to more than one group.
Fig. 2 Schema of attractiveness of public spaces. Source: author
3.3 Summary of theoretical framework
This chapter attempted to highlight the need in the separation of physical and social aspects when investigating the topic of segregation. Even though spatial segregation has an impact on social segregation, it seems that the Athenian case illustrates the concern to view the two aspects separately. For Athens, and especially for its center, the accommodation started to be an issue during the decade 1990. Back in the 90s the segregation that was observed in Athens was the class segregation that became more obvious when the economic crisis affected Greece in 2009. The new ethnic mixture of the center of Athens cannot be defined by the classic definition of segregation. The areas of the center cannot be characterized as ghetto areas, as the number of natives and migrants is balanced. Although, the segregation by its classical formulation seems to affect the urban fabric of Athens and changed its social geography.
The economic crisis in 2009 and the refugee crisis in 2015 changed the composition of the center. The migrants appear to be more centralized than natives. Despite the fact that the center is occupied by low income natives and migrants, the spatial segregation decreases and the social vertical segregation increases. The center became attractive for those two groups because it still can offer affordable housing. The number of affordable housing is limited and the migrants
considered to be in a weak position to find accommodation, because of their distancing from the dominant group.
Finally, the theoretical chapter briefly illustrated the components of attractiveness for public spaces. The chosen public space is Victoria square because it can appropriately indicate the paradox phenomenon of segregation, when people are in the same place and distancing from each other.
4 Research Methodology
This chapter mainly discusses the methods implemented in the analysis of the main research question and the sub-questions. As well this chapter illustrates the limitations and the challenges that the researcher faced during the collection of empirical data. The chapter ends with ethical considerations about the methods that were used to investigate the topic of segregation and in the sensitive groups of investigation, such as refugees.
It was highlighted in the previous chapter of the theoretical framework that the missing stakeholder within the investigation of the segregation topic in Athens was the group of refugees. Besides the different articles that presented the tragic life stories of refugees, the amount of questions about housing conditions, legislation and interactions of refugees with locals were limited. This research aims to involve the refugees in the discussion about segregation.
Consequently, this research investigates three main stakeholders which are involved in the segregation in the discussion, 1) the state, 2) the NGOs and 3) the refugees. In figure 3 these three main stakeholders are related through different components that accomplish the segregation. The results showed that the stakeholders support, improve or ignore the different components of the triangle. Before the results a closer look to each component is required. The idea behind the triangle is inspired by four stages of the labor market integration in Germany (Gericke, Burmeister, Löwe, Deller & Pundt, 2018) and adapted for the current research. Eventually the new five stages were combined with three main stakeholders of interest for this research. More detail about the triangle:
- Administrative support, has to do with asylum application, timeline of the application, the legal status and the resident permit
- Housing policy, illustrates all the housing policies that are followed by the state and the NGOs.
- Language is seen as a tool of integration and what language support tools are available. - Social support is bonding on the social capital how organizations and institutions can and
should support the refugees
- Social integration is about the development of the cultural background for host communities and refugees.
So as to build questions upon these five stages a GSI (Schell, Diab & Benenson, 2015) was used. It is important to highlight that for each stakeholder the questions were adopted accordingly. Appendix 1 presents all the questions for each stakeholder.
Fig.3 Main stakeholders and the five stages to structure the understanding of segregation
4.1 Semi-depth interviews
In addition to the information published in governmental reports and statistical studies, this study is also based on interviews. The interviews worked as a tool for understanding the different definitions, the legislation system for refugees, and how different actors maneuver between the reality and the needs and the possibilities that they have. The main research question and the first sub-question was answered through the thematic analysis of interviews and secondary data
(Bryman, 2008). Five semi-depth interviews were conducted with people from different spheres related to segregation issue:
- Stefanopoulos George, advocacy officer from Greek Forum of Refugees
- Lefteris Papagiannakis, head of advocacy from Solidarity Now, deputy mayor of
municipality of Athens with SYRIZA government
- Mirzay Mohammad, member of Afghan community and translator at SolidarityNow (NGO)
- Khalaf Hosho, syrian Ex-translator from ESTIA and HELIOS programs
- Nour, Iraq woman, recognized refugee
The format of the interviews consisted of semi-structured questions with main points and issues to be raised for further conversation. This provides flexibility for the interviewers to express their own opinion and even ask questions, and eventually have a qualitative conversation about the topic of interest, in regards to structured questions without the space for the discussion. On the other hand, interviews together with statistical evidence worked as new insights for the topic of segregation. The answers of the interviews and statistical documents were analysed according to each stage of the triangle, creating a theme that led to thematic analysis of the interviews (Bryman, 2008).
These interviews allowed for balancing between the varieties of fields related to the study and the chaotic information that is online about the topic of refugees. The language of interviews was greek, except one. The questions were translated to Greek by the author of this study.
4.2 Case study
The usage of primary and secondary data to answer the main and the first sub-question worked as the starting point to introduce and investigate the case study. The specific case study can be viewed as well as the case inside the case, since the main research questions already introduce the investigation of segregation in the municipality of Athens. Victoria Square was chosen as the meeting point of natives and refugees. Also, the timing of this thesis was a significant factor to explore the phenomenon of social segregation.
A case study, in accordance with Yin (2014) is a way to investigate a contemporary phenomenon in its real-life context. The usage of case study is important when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are unclear, here case study serves a role of illustration that eases the explanations of abstract concepts and definitions through concrete examples. The case study also allows for deeper understanding of complexity of phenomenon and provides you freedom in the choice of data collection and analysis techniques (Yin, 2014). The choice of case study method is supported by literature review and theory. In the case of this thesis case study this method is derived by the theory of public spaces. With the usage of the case study choice as a method the research aims to support the answer to the main research question of the thesis and especially to answer the second sub-question.
Each question to present a holistic answer should be accompanied by a list of empirical tools, such as interviewees, documents, and/or observation (Yin, 2014). It depends on the research questions which tool will be chosen as a source of evidence. To understand how a public space, such as square, is being used by refugees and locals all three possible instruments were used.
4.2.1 Official documents
This part of the case study aims to present the official documentation that was taken under consideration about Victoria Square. All documents have been chosen with regard to their relevance to research question of this thesis and to their relation to the case of Victoria Square:
- Victoria, Athens: free services for refugees and migrants (UNHCR, 2016)
- ATTICA, who is going where? (UNHCR, 2016a)
- Strategic Regeneration Program in densely populated residential/mixed use areas
(Kalantzopoulos et. al, 2011)
- Neighbourhood Parks: In degraded areas of centre of Athens (Romanos et. al, 2019)
4.2.2 Observation
The considerable amount of data can be collected just by watching, where non-verbal communication can provide more comprehensive information than verbal one (Yin, 2014). Interviews are important data about people's opinions, but the body language and the behavior in the real-life situation can be in conflict with verbal perception.
In his textbook Yin (2014) makes a distinction between the direct and participant observation. If in one situation the observer is passive, in the second one the observer has its role within the fieldwork situation. For this particular case study, a direct type of observation is applied. Notes on square activities were taken in a field diary, together with the approximate number of people visiting the place, with type of visit and different time of visit. The aim of this direct observation was the opportunity to observe directly the real-world setting, relevant social or environmental conditions and certain types of behavior (Yin, 2014). To a certain extent the observation had a participatory classification, as the observer occupied some place in the square and were involved in some activities, such as buying food or coffee from the local stores. Finally, the type of observation can be specified as structured, with specific ideas of what to observe and the locations of observation. The structure of observation was a result of trial observations over two days for a shorter period of time than the final observation and the need to observe from different locations.
4.2.3 Interviews
Interviews are a significant part of the observation in qualitative research. A short interview in the format of regular conversation in fieldwork lights different aspects of what someone is seeing. If the observation indicates the cultural organization of the immediate environment then the interview works as a tool that indicates the status of the interviewee within that environment (Yin, 2014).
On and around the square were conducted 12 short interviews with random people of Victoria Square. The interviewees were 6 people that are working on the square, and 6 visitors, 6 women and 6 men. All interviewees were asked the same questions. The questions for these short interviews were structured and less flexible and required shorter time for thinking before answering, more intuitive answers. The questions were reflection of factors that were presented during the theoretical framework of this thesis, and were grouped into four spheres: safety, appropriation, (in) formal relations and borders and boundaries (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 Questions for short interviews
4.3 Limitations
The limitation of this study is the timing of conducting it, during the pandemic of COVID-19. That created many difficulties for the researcher to arrange the interviews and conduct them. The interviews through phone were conducted as the researcher and the interviewee followed the state regulation about social distancing.
The complexity of the topic and the limited amount of sources made it difficult to understand. The sources that were used for this thesis were only official documents and studies in order to eliminate the misinformation. And provide the scientific aspect of the segregation topic, without showing the emotional one (personal stories of refugees).
During the observation the weather was against the researcher and made it difficult to work on the field and interact with people. Also, to maintain the objectivity during observation, random people were questioned. Unfortunately, the language barrier limited the research in questioning only people that speak Greek or English. In that way the refugees of the square were immediately excluded.
4.4 Ethical issues
Before each interview through email the declaration for sign by the research were sent to interviewee, in Greek language except one. The declaration informed the interviewee about the purpose of the study, the possible duration and the academic feature of it. Finally, it was mentioned that the answers of interviewee will be shared only in this thesis and their approval to use their name or not was asked.
5 Analysis and Discussion
In this chapter the analysis of empirical data will be presented. The empirical data of the thesis included semi-structured interviews and statistics that were organized in themes as they appear in the triangle of methodology. Three themes were developed for analysis, administrative support, housing policy and social integration. The last theme includes results about language and social support. Finally, the chapter will illustrate the case study of Victoria square that investigates social segregation in real time.
5.1 Administrative support or continuous adaptation to changes
In the section of administrative support the general picture of the municipality of Athens will be presented. The application of new policies, new laws and new ministerial decisions were mentioned in this thesis several times, now the emphasis of them will be given on how they affect the image of the city, living conditions of refugees and locals.
The picture of Athens significantly changed over the years, starting from the 1990s till now. And it will change again according to new asylum regulations, “ the asylum procedure is very long and after, sometimes two years of waiting, people are getting rejected. Over the last two years the rejections of asylum applicants reached almost 90%. It is the result of the new political strategy to make people return back, as they do not have to documentation to continue their journey in the other european countries” (Mirzay, 2020). After the agreement between
EU-Turkey, the wait till final interview for asylum can take approximately two years. During these two years people are in some accommodation program and working to help their family or
just live on the cash assistance. Asylum seekers usually find jobs through their own community, here the ability to leave close to people of your own ethnicity working as a helpful tool, that is in conflict with Peach (1996), that separation of people from dominant groups prevent assimilation of refugees.
In the concept of segregation in the city of Athens this topic illustrates a great misconception, which is driven from the complexity of this phenomenon in Athens case. “ From 2015 till now
the center of Athens changes every day and can be characterized by degradation of the quality of life for its citizens, rather than segregation. Refugees influx over the last five years were changing as well and we as an organization had to change and learn new ways of communication” (Stefanopoulos, 2020) and continues “Greeks and refugees illustrate problems in coexistence in the same place and the root of this problem is in the integration ”. The
following discussion shows that there are no conflicts in between natives and refugees, but there are huge language barriers. Voutsina (2019) in her study indicated exactly the same tendencies of ethnic mixing that have increased since 2015, but tensions between Greeks and refugees are rare. The concept of adaptation to changes is the impact that every interviewee was highlighting. Programs that originally were designed to be integrated ended to engage only with the housing (Shehu, 2020). New ESTIA regulations, about the limited time that someone can be part of the program after being recognized as a refugee, draw new directions in the communication with owners and companies that handle apartments. “The solution that the state can offer, in this case, is HELIOS, but you need to remember, it is not operating right and lacking many points ”
(Hosho, 2020). “..it is difficult to find an apartment on your own, when you are out of ESTIA, and do not have a resident permit and working contract to show to the owner ” (Mirzay, 2020). It
is important to remember that the HELIOS program cannot offer accommodation and the
duration of the program is only six months. This “aggressive” strategy of an accommodation program that seeks the empowerment of refugees, denies those people the appropriate living conditions and leads them to camps or homelesness.
In order to register for resident permit and open a bank account, a person retired to have an AFM number (tax number). The interview with the advocacy of Greek Forum of Refugees light out the problem that recognized refugees face to get this number. “ Another problem that we have and
trying to fix is to help entitled refugees to AFM. Tax offices on islands do not provide refugees
with the social number even after the official statement of the minister. After long talks and pressure from our side to the ministry of migration and asylum, the next step is that we are expecting the official ministerial decision that will force tax offices to provide refugees with the AFM number” (Stefanopoulos, 2020).
It is now clear that some policies create problems that solve them. Another example of this is a new policy that strict the mode of operation of NGOs. “ ..of course the new decision of NGOs operation will change the way those organizations operate. But this decision won’t affect big NGOs such as Solidarity Now. But that will lead to the decision for some NGOs to close and stop providing help in housing seeking” (Papagiannakis, 2020).
It will be wrong to conjecture that the Greek government with new laws and policies focus on creating deadlocks. The attempt is to create a functional legitimate system that can help and address all the limitations. Unfortunately, for the greek reality this unified legitimate system is a long term dream, and needs several years for its implementation. One of the positive sides of new policies was a collaboration of the state with different communities that followed by creation of helpful tools, such as cultural mediator. An example was given by a member of Afghan community “We as a community were there to show our perspective of what asylum is about and also we tried to introduce the meaning of cultural mediator” Mirzay (2020).
Finally, all the measurements such as new laws and decisions can be viewed as an attemption from the government to eliminate the negative side of segregation (Anderson, Magnusson Turner and Søholt, 2018). On the other hand, these new regulations create more problems and this is the outcome of the previous and the new government. The problems usually are associated with real estate, documentation procedure and the integration that worsen local inequalities and have negative effects on social cohesion.
5.2 Housing Policy or risk of homelessness
One of the furthermost essential aspects in people's lives is to have an appropriate place to stay. For displacement people this became the first thing on the list to fix in a new life. In the case of refugees that arrived in Greece since 2015, the Greek government with the help of NGOs and UNHCR, helped asylum seekers and refugees to find a place to stay.
During the early stages of the refugee crisis, without any governmental instruction or support, refugees after islands were allocated in the squares, including Victoria Square. Later, volunteers and different activists helped people with accommodation and started the usage of abandoned buildings in the city center of Athens, such as City Plaza building and Notara 26 (Oikonomakis, 2018). With the decision by the Greek court the so-called refugee squats started to be evicted by
2017 and the last of them was evicted by the police in May 2020 (Oikonomakis, 2018;
Ekathimerini, 2020).
The people from squats were moved to camps around Athens and/or some of them became beneficiaries of accommodation programs, such as ESTIA. As it was mentioned above the beneficiaries of the ESTIA program are people that request asylum from the Greek government and they stay in the program till their status changes to recognized refugees. After the recognition as a refugee, to have the accommodation, the choices are to become part of the HELIOS program or to find a place to stay on your own. The recognition as a refugee starts to be seen as a critical point, where refugees do not know about the HELIOS program and facing the unsure accommodation future from themselves and their families. “We were knocking on the
doors of refugees and informing them about the HELIOS program. People were showing their mistrust to the program. And sometimes under the pressure (the interviewee refers to a new ministerial decision of six months and later one month stay in the program after the recognition as refugee) to be evicted soon from the apartments they were signing the contracts to become part of it ” (Hosho, 2020). “Another problem of HELIOS is that people were left on their own. Without the knowledge of language they need to go to public services and ask for AFM, to go to banks to open bank accounts. And in parallel they have to take the lessons for greek language and look for a job. That’s why I saw people leaving the program ” (Hosho, 2020). Papagiannakis
(2020) confirms that by saying “HELIOS is a small program with limited sources in the accommodation aspect. And now for any program to find a place for refugees became a difficult work. Many owners show racist behavior and end the phone conversations the moment they hear someone is calling from an NGO. That one extra reason to leave the ESTIA program at the end of September 2020, and not continue with ESTIA II (according to official state of Solidarity Now they will leave the program of ESTIA as it will become just accommodation program and will lose it integration part in this new concept of ESTIA II)”. The aim for autonomous refugees by
HELIOS program and new ESTIA seems difficult to be accomplished as both programs illustrate lack in the organization of them.
These new policies appear to create more problems for the center of Athens, than they try to solve. The number of refugees that soon will leave the ESTIA program will reach 11.000 (Shehu, 2020). The previous tactic of protection of asylum seekers and helping with everything without
the direct integration of them in the process, created a problem with autonomy or
self-organization that policies try to achieve (Shehu, 2020). Thus, people are facing the terrifying reality and the threat to become homeless (Smith, 2020). Unfortunately, for some refugees the threat is already a reality as from accommodation they moved to Victoria Square and from there the will allocated ones again in camps.
Another side of those “aggressive” policies is the discharge of overcrowded islands and in future the regulation of the big amount of refugees to concentrate in one place, as it is happening in other EU countries (Kreichauf, 2018). “The equal spread or any regulation of the masses is a future attemption, that now it is difficult to accomplish as the Greek government tries to solve different problems right now. I don’t believe that we even soon will observe the handling of people that arrive in Greece and Athens. Athens is like a big balloon that accepts more and more people, at the end it will explode ” (Papagiannakis, 2020). This regulation of the masses was an attempt that started with the previous law about asylum services in 2016 and remains as part of a strategy in the new law in 2019. One of the weak points of the latest law is that it officially promotes the strategy of returns if refugees will not adapt to Greek services, schools etc. The Greek government requests integration without offering it.
5.3 Social integration (language, social support)
Integration is one of the most important parts of massive displacement of people. Under the umbrella of integration are aspects such as language, cultural knowledge and real estate market. If the real estate was briefly described in the previous section of housing support, in this section the social integration will be analysed and light the aspect of social segregation, when the integration does not exist or have not become part of the society. As well this section will illustrate aspects of integration, such as language and social support, as interviewees suggest new insides.
