The international workshop RE/CONSTRUCTIONS: Histories, Politics, Futures is part of the two-year research project Contested Reconstructions in Global Perspective: Spatial Histories of Conflict and Expertise in 1940s Greece (HFRI, 2023–25 Project Number 15122), which combines architectural history and digital humanities to examine the entanglements of expertise and conflict. It will be held in person between 17-19 October 2025, at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly in Volos.
Scheduled for the final trimester of the research project, this workshop will publicly present its findings and serve as a platform to foster discussion on the histories and politics of post-conflict reconstruction—a field that, needless to say, has become a central challenge in contemporary research and design. Building on the productive conference session Revising Histories of Post-Conflict/Disaster Reconstruction (SAH 2025, chaired by P. Phokaides and F. Abreek-Zubiedat), this workshop aims to place the paradigmatic case of post–World War II reconstruction in Greece in dialogue with the contemporary politics of post-disaster recovery following the recent catastrophic floods in the city of Volos and the wider Thessaly region. The primary aim of this workshop is to broaden discussions on the histories and politics of post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction by foregrounding marginalized perspectives and experiences. It invites researchers working across diverse temporal and geographic contexts to engage with the following broader questions:
- What major shifts have occurred in the practices and paradigms of post–WWII reconstruction, decisively shaped by Western values, technocratic expertise, and developmentalism?
- How has recent scholarship shifted from positioning architects, planners, and other experts as the central protagonists of reconstruction histories, to foregrounding bottom-up processes led by builders, inhabitants, and other agents—such as animals, plants, infrastructures, and machines, among others?
- What would it mean to radically revise the historiography of reconstruction to include the perspectives of marginalized humans and more-than-humans as co-constitutive forces in environments under reconstruction?
- And, given the escalating frequency and scale of contemporary catastrophes, how might we reimagine reconstruction as a project of spatial and environmental justice—one grounded in practices of care and healing, articulated from a planetary perspective?
This workshop aims to reconceptualize post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction as a broader epistemic inquiry. Through public lectures, scheduled and informal discussions, a fieldtrip and screenings we seek to foreground critically situated investigations of reconstruction processes and case studies. In doing so, we aim to interrogate dominant epistemological frameworks and explore alternative research methodologies—including critical archival analysis, digital mapping tools, ethnography, oral histories, autobiographical narratives, and relational writing—as well as diverse modes of dissemination, such as film, exhibitions, and other public-facing formats.Ultimately, we ask: what new modes of perception or knowledge production are required to account for what has been silenced in the histories of reconstruction, while also registering what continues to echo beyond conventional forms of evidence? Beyond crafting more just historiographies, how might critical research help us reimagine the political stakes of reconstruction—both historically and in relation to unfolding futures?
Amid ongoing wars, protracted military conflicts, and escalating ecological catastrophes—including earthquakes, floods, and wildfires—post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction projects are proliferating globally, demanding deeper historiographical and theoretical engagement. This workshop brings together an international group of researchers to foster future collaboration, including the development of a collective publication critically examining the histories and politics of reconstruction in post-conflict and post-disaster contexts.
Workshop Participants
“ContestedReconstructions” Research Team:
Petros Phokaides (PI), Polymeris Voglis, Eleni Gkadolou, Dimtris Skaltsis, Stavroula-Maria Micha, Giota Pavlidou, Fatina Abreek-Zubiedat, Panayiota Pyla, Ijlal Muzaffar.
List of Invited Participants:
Kalliopi Amygdalou, Christos Filippides, Aslihan Gunhan, Stylianos Lekakis, Fabiano Micocci, Penelope Papailias, Maryia Rusak, Antonis Petras, Loukas Triantis, Vaso Trova.
Workshop Public Program
Friday 17 Oct 2025 / 18:00 – 20:00
Welcoming message
Kostis Paniyiris, Department Head
Introduction to the Re/Constructions Workshop
Petros Phokaides
Polymeris Voglis
The Burden of the Past in Shaping the Future
The Politics of Reconstruction in Postwar Greece
Panayiota Pyla
Reconstruction and Reconciliation: Varosha's Long Wait
Ijlal Muzaffar
Land-dreams: Meaning, Memory, and Belonging in a Reconstructed Landscape
SCREENINGS
Friday 17 Oct 2025 19:45
Metamorfosi - A Settlement in Flux (19min)
(Thanos Karanikas, Dimitra Kosma)
Saturday 18 Oct2025 20:00
Floodmarks: A Video-Chronicle (22min)
(Penelope Papailias)
Download the poster and the programme.