Amerika square (Platia Amerikis) is among the Athenian neighborhoods that have radically changed during the recent past decades in the context of the current social and spatial transformations. The relocation of its older inhabitants and the following abandonment of its stock of buildings, the continuing devaluation of the public space as a consequence of the crisis, its transformation in a migrant neighborhood and the reuse of its empty flats and shops are some of the elements composing the image of a neighborhood with many problems but also with great potential. Τhat is to say, it’s all about a neighborhood which is considered to be “downgraded”  but at the same time is alive, multicultural and diverse.

Our approach focuses on the dynamics emerging through the coexistence of nations and cultures and the way the latter are expressed in the public sphere. For this purpose, initially, we came into contact with the migrant communities, other social groups and other individuals inhabiting the area. All of them, through their everyday practices contribute to the shaping of the neighborhood’s identity. Ιn view of the needs and the desires of the latter, we developed our  proposal.

Our proposal concerns the designing of a multipurpose space (community center) which could house the activities of the migrant communities and of the artistic and cultural collectivities of the area, thus creating the proper conditions for the development of new. In this new space, group meetings, collective meals, festivities, cultural events, classes and collective workshops could take place. Ιn the meanwhile, in order to strengthen and spread the abovementioned activities to the rest of the neighborhood we suggest that during the summer months the latter should go beyond the confines of this particular space and take place in other three outdoor spaces gradually transforming into a community festival. The four spaces that we choose to intervene in/activate are located along Mythimnis street in between Amerikis square and Acharnon street.

We believe that a complex program such as the one described above, which includes both a permanent structure available to the inhabitants of the neighborhood and also a set of temporal activities open to the rest of the city, could contribute to the strengthening of the community bonding and to the promotion of the public visibility of multinational groups.