The Department of Architecture at the University of Thessaly (UTh) and the open research-action group CoHab Athens are organizing the symposium “Inhabiting Together: Practices and Imaginaries for a Collective Architecture.” The event features contributions from participant teams of the collaborative youth competition «CoHabiting Vacancies – Συν-κατοικώντας τα κενά» (CoHab Athens, 2024-2025), who will present their proposals for the reuse and transformation of vacant buildings—mainly belonging to public or non-profit organizations—into various forms of cooperative housing based on local and community needs. Drawing on the design experiments and alternative housing production scenarios developed through the competition, the symposium also aims to initiate broader discussions on contemporary housing policy in Greece. Short presentations by architects and researchers will lead into an open conversation, seeking to address critical questions such as:

• What are the prospects for addressing the deadlocks and crises in the housing sector, which are becoming increasingly severe and disproportionately impacting vulnerable social groups?
• What institutional, economic, and social challenges arise in adopting cooperative housing models in Greece, and what lessons can be learned from their long-standing implementation in other countries?
• How can architectural education, research, and practice contribute to shaping “realistic alternatives for access to affordable and quality housing, based on principles of self-organization, democracy, care, and environmental responsibility” (CoHab 2023)?

The symposium seeks to highlight the critical role of architecture in reflecting on and challenging dominant perceptions and models of housing in Greece. It focuses on the intersections between architectural theory and practice, academic research and education, local government, and grassroots initiatives. Its aim is to contribute to the shaping of alternative practices and imaginaries in which housing is understood not only as a social right, but also as a catalyst for the transformation of social relations; as a site for questioning gendered, class-based, spatial, and other social inequalities — and, at the same time, as a foundation for forging the conditions of collective life and architecture.

The symposium will take place in person and online on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 16:00, in Room E, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly and on MS Teams [link].

Download the program and the poster.