Table of Contents Overview .............................................................................................................................2 Building Trust, Accountability and Innovation ...................................................8 Boosting Careers, Care and Employment .............................................................13 Develop a Platform for Extra Work ......................................................................................13 Expand Medical Tourism to Boost the Athens Economy ....................................................15 Pilot the “MyAthens” Project to Enhance Education, Careers and Citizenship ..................17 Engage the University as an Actor in Community Development .........................................19 Further Reading ...................................................................................................................20 Catalyzing Change Through Public Space and Placemaking ........................23 Support Clean, Green and Safe for Immediate Action ..................................................24 Launch the “We Are Athens” Initiative .................................................................................24 Introduce a “Neighborhood Fix-It” Infrastructure Campaign ..............................................25 Support Planning and Asset Mapping ............................................................................27 Implement a Participatory Community Asset Mapping Project ..........................................27 Create a Community Coalition to Support Capacity Building and Connect Initiatives with Social Capital ...............................................................................................28 Support, Activate and Engage Through Pilot Projects .................................................30 Establish “Athens Creates” to Breathe Art into Public Space .............................................31 Launch a School Street Markets Pilot Project .....................................................................33 Further Reading ...................................................................................................................36 Endnotes ...........................................................................................................................41 1 Lab Participants Overview Andreas Addison (United States), Civic Innovator, City of Richmond, Virginia Robert Arnkil (Finland), Founder, Arnkil Dialogues Elaine Asal (United States), Designer/Architect, Gensler Aphrodite Bouikidis (Greece), Partnerships The Bertelsmann Foundation, with generous support from the Development Coordinator, CulturePolis Open Society Foundations, partnered with the 100 Resilient Kimberly Driggins (United States), Director of Strategic Cities initiative (pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation) Planning, City of Detroit Planning and and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) Development Department to launch the Transatlantic Policy Lab (“the lab”). The lab Sabine Knierbein (Austria), Assistant Professor is a unique platform to explore the agenda for advancing for Urban Culture and Public Space, Faculty of just and fair inclusion, or equity, in American and European Architecture and Planning, Technische Universität Wien cities. Boston, Massachusetts, and Athens, Greece, provided Barbara Krimgold (United States), Senior Health the backdrops for interactive, weeklong explorations into Program Director, Institute for Alternative Futures this issue by a team of trans-Atlantic experts from local Michael Lake (United States), President and CEO, government, philanthropy, think tanks, nongovernmental Leading Cities organizations and the private sector. The lab is an organic, Ana Patricia Muñoz (United States), Assistant Vice results-driven exercise, aimed not only at facilitating trans- President, Community Development Research, Federal Atlantic dialogue, but also toward developing place-based Reserve Bank of Boston policy recommendations that can advance resilience on both Carl Pucci (Estonia), Head of American Operations, Datel sides of the Atlantic. Lynette Rawlings (United States), Senior Consultant, Urban Institute This report summarizes the Athens lab, which took place on Wingham Rowan (United Kingdom), Founder, June 26-30, 2016. Since its inception, the lab has worked in Beyond Jobs tandem with Athens' Chief Resilience Officer Eleni Myrivili. Julia Seward (United States), Principal, The lab is designed to build on the key findings of the Julia Seward Consulting municipality’s Preliminary Resilience Assessment, which used community engagement to rank and order the municipality’s Nathaniel Smith (United States), Founder, Partnership for Southern Equity resilience priorities. The recommendations contained within this report will feed into the Municipality of Athens' Resilience Daniel Soriano Hernández (Spain), Director of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center, IE Business School Strategy, which will be released to the public in 2017. Lab Chair Lab Background: Resilience Geraldine Gardner, Director, Urban and Regional Policy Across the United States and Europe, cities face rising Program, German Marshall Fund of the United States inequality as a result of growth that is neither sustainable nor inclusive. In many cases, this exacerbates historic inequalities Project Conveners that have excluded some groups from the pathway to Anthony Silberfeld, Director, Transatlantic Relations, Bertelsmann Foundation opportunity. The impact of inequality is far-reaching, and it is felt most profoundly among people whose advancement Jeffrey Brown, Project Manager, International Relations, Bertelsmann Foundation is constrained by structural forces, racism and prejudice, or threats to personal well-being. Inequality also manifests Facilitation itself in city space. Historic urbanization patterns and urban Matthew Freeman, Founding Principal and Lead planning regimes have concentrated poverty in certain Consultant, TMI Consulting districts and have discouraged investment. New urban growth Municipality of Athens/Resilient Athens and investment spurred by globalization is reshaping cities, Eleni Myrivili, Chief Resilience Officer causing spikes in gentrification, displacement and further Konstantinos Georgiou, Project Manager, Resilient spatial polarization. Thus, inequality is widely acknowledged Athens as one of the most pressing challenges that cities and Anthi Christou, Press Officer, Resilient Athens metropolitan regions face. Alexandra Saliba, Research Assistant The drivers of inequality in Athens are linked to Greece’s Mary Saradari, Fixer/Scheduler economic crisis, which has driven unemployment to Maria Lachaniotou, Team Member, Resilient Athens record levels, severely constrained government spending and produced a turbulent investment climate. These 2 At a Glance: Municipality of Athens Area: 38 acres Nationality Sex Greek Foreign Male Female 77.16% 22.84% 47.47% 52.53% Population by Age Group 0-19 20-39 40-59 60+ 15.19% 32.27% 27.81% 24.73% Marital Status Unmarried Married Widowed Separated 43.73% 42.81% 8.25% 5.81% Educational Attainment Primary Secondary Higher Other 15.16% 47.74% 24.40% 12.70% Employment Status Active Non-Active Employed Unemployed 15.16% 47.74% 24.40% 12.70% Housing Total Housing Units Occupied Vacant 427,825 69.15% 30.85% Permanent Population: 664,046 Population Change (1991-2001) macroeconomic issues trickle down to affect municipal -18.68% service delivery, access to capital and individual health and welfare. As a result, the physical city, the municipal High Educational Attainment government, and its people and business are strained, Athens: 72.14% and longstanding inequalities have been exacerbated. This Greece: 57.99% situation has been compounded by the arrival of refugees and Proportion of Elderly Residents migrants from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The 100 children / 148.5 elderly people combination of transient refugees and migrants who intend Financially Inactive Population to settle in Athens has created a mosaic of new stakeholders, 51% especially in the two districts where the lab concentrated its efforts. In response, a range of organizations and individuals Increase in Unemployment (2011-2015) have stepped up to support the new arrivals with housing, 7% jobs and basic services and to connect them to the Turnover for Greek Businesses (2008-2010) Athenian community. -38.32% Amid these challenges, the resilience of Athenians is striking. Change in Average Number of Buinesses (2008-2010) The doom and gloom that predominates in media coverage +11.11% of Greece’s economic woes dissipates once on the ground in Athens. Through the lab process, the experts spoke Fall in Average Income (2010-2012) Athens: 8.35% with leaders dedicated to creating a more resilient Athens. Greece: -5.31% Specifically, the Municipality of Athens directed the lab to focus on two areas that are critically linked to the city’s Old Building Stock resilience challenges. The first, economy, focused on issues 80% including entrepreneurship, job creation, skills development Urban Green Space and the creation of value chains. The second, placemaking, Athens: 2 square meters per resident refers to the process of physical revitalization and utilization EU: 8 square meters per resident of public spaces through social, cultural, economic and environmental activities. Placemaking is an important lever for reducing inequality because of the opportunity to improve Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority 3 Population Change, Athens Municipality Poverty Rate 20.6% 16.5% 803,551 14% 650,199 11% 512,386 2% 146,909 151,660 126,052 1.49% 1991 2001 2011 2009 2012 2013 Greeks Foreigners Greece Athens Municipality the physical environment, while bridging divides and creating partner, TMI Consulting, to design a process that utilized connections across communities. strategies drawn from design thinking or human-centered design, which is rooted in empathy. As such, the first three The lab focused its analysis of economy and placemaking days of the lab focused on intensive information gathering on two of Athens’ most diverse and dynamic areas: the at both the city and district level. Over the course of the 3rd district, anchored by Avdi Square, and the 6th district, lab, the experts spent 28 hours engaging with more than 60 anchored by Victoria Square. Each of these distinctive local leaders through presentations, site visits and dialogue districts has a diverse set of community assets and actors sessions. The rich insight gained from these experiences working to strengthen economic activity and placemaking. illuminated key challenges and opportunities that were critical The lab was inspired by the innovations already present in to the lab process. As shown in the graphic below, there were these communities and intrigued by the possibility of building four main phases of the lab process, including a four-day upon them in the final recommendations. session in Athens as well as remote engagement with the lab Lab Process: Trans-Atlantic Collaboration with experts to develop the final recommendations. Athens Stakeholders The first phase of the lab involved citywide framing of the role The goal of the on-site lab was to develop a robust that social inequity plays in Athens’ resilience challenges. The understanding of Athens’ resilience and equity challenges in lab kicked off at the Impact Hub Athens with briefings from order to make informed, implementable recommendations. city officials, local academics and community members. The A number of issues complicated the process, including the opening session included an overview of the municipality’s compressed lab timeline and the complexity of both the Resilience Strategy, discussion of Athens’ social equity issues and the case study districts. Despite these challenges, challenges and a deep dive into revitalization efforts in the 3rd both the Bertelsmann Foundation and GMF shared the goal of and 6th Districts. Later, lab experts engaged in exploration designing the lab in a thoughtful and meaningful way. These and analysis. Lab experts were divided into two theme- two organizations collaborated with the lab’s facilitation based teams (economy and placemaking) to learn about Athens Remote June 26-30, 2016 July-September, 2016 Neighborhood Citywide Big Idea Recommendation Exploration Framing Brainstorming Development and Analysis 4 3rd Municipal District 6th Municipal District Area: 6 acres Area: 4 acres Permanent Population: 46,508 Permanent Population: 130,582 Nationality Sex Nationality Sex Greek Foreign Male Female Greek Foreign Male Female 83.65% 16.35% 48.90% 51.10% 64.75% 35.25% 48.56% 54.44% Population by Age Group Population by Age Group 0-19 20-39 40-59 60+ 0-19 20-39 40-59 60+ 16.82% 32.58% 27.53% 23.70% 14.85% 32.27% 28.19% 24.74% Marital Status Marital Status Unmarried Married Widowed Separated Unmarried Married Widowed Separated 43.37% 44.36% 7.48% 4.25% 46.32% 38.55% 8.76% 6.37% Educational Attainment Educational Attainment Primary Secondary Higher Other Primary Secondary Higher Other 19.11% 45.53% 18.61% 16.67% 11.58% 43.20% 33.90% 11.32% Employment Status Employment Status Active Non-Active Employed Unemployed Active Non-Active Employed Unemployed 49.19% 50.78% 38.91% 20.91% 50.81% 48.97% 38.46% 24.30% Housing Housing Total Housing Units Occupied Vacant Total Housing Units Occupied Vacant 27,864 70.82% 29.18% 90,178 63.59% 36.41% Low Educational Attainment High Percentage of Married People 64.64% 38.55% Small Foreign Population High Population Density 16.35% 19.66% Low Income Second Highest Population Decline (2001-2011) 19.58% Large Proportion of Green Space 19% of the municipality’s green space High Unemployment Rate 24.3% Fewer Housing Units 6% of the municipality’s housing units Large Foreign Population 35.25% Fewer Square Meters Per Resident 42% of dwellings under 30 square meters Middle Income (compared to other districts) High Percentage of Vacant Housing Units 36.4% of municipality’s total house units Housing Units the people, organizations, programs and initiatives involved 21.2% of municipality’s total housing stock in addressing these issues. The experts learned about these policy issues while uncovering each district’s unique Low Proportion of Urban Green Space network of actors and institutions dedicated to revitalization, 6% of the municipality resilience and strengthening social equity. Each team participated in informational briefings, site visits and small- Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority group discussions with community experts. Engagement in both districts culminated with a networking session and a roundtable discussion with local civic leaders, business owners and representatives from local institutions. 5 Economy Group Site Visits • Kipseli Market • Melissa • Bios/Romantso The neighborhood immersion and stakeholder engagement recommendations. Through intensive discussion and debate, process was a powerful experience for the lab teams; reflecting the teams narrowed the list of potential issues to a set of Big on their experiences, lab experts expressed how deeply Ideas. Over the course of the day, as the Big Ideas took shape, affected they were by the work of community leaders and their more concrete recommendations for policies, programs personal stories of perseverance. A common theme throughout or investments emerged. The teams then participated in the community conversations was a significant lack of trust in two feedback loop sessions to refine their ideas. In the first government, compounded by bureaucracy and a perceived lack session, the teams shared with each other; in the second of accountability. Both the economy and placemaking teams session, they presented to groups of district stakeholders reported hearing this refrain in talking with stakeholders. Both with whom they met during site visits. teams felt strongly that addressing trust and accountability The three teams spent the final session of the lab reflecting on would be an important precursor to the success of any of the the input from the feedback sessions, making final adjustments lab’s recommendations. As such, the lab formed a third group to their Big Ideas, and mapping out an action plan to transform to focus on strategies for building trust and accountability as a their thoughts into concrete recommendations. Each member precursor to the lab’s main recommendations. of the lab elected to work on a specific Big Idea during the Following the district site visits and stakeholder engagement, post-lab remote session period from July to September; lab experts analyzed the inputs and new information gained this step involved additional research, engagement with using a SWOC (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and officials from the Municipality of Athens and developing Challenges) model. As illustrated by the photograph above, the recommendations in this report. Each recommendation the lab experts thoroughly documented their initial takeaways includes key goals and actions for implementation, as well and insights. The three teams then utilized elements of design as profiles of trans-Atlantic models or best practices. During thinking to further refine and process their experiences and this final phase of the lab, the Bertelsmann Foundation and begin the “Big Idea” brainstorming phase. Each team sifted GMF hosted conference calls with the theme-based teams through the SWOC analysis to identify major issues or levers to track progress, discuss engagement with the municipality that could advance the policy themes of social and economic and further refine the recommendations. The following section equity. The trust and accountability team focused exclusively provides an in-depth look at each recommendation that the on citywide strategies, while the placemaking and economy lab offers to the Municipality of Athens for its consideration. teams developed a mix of both district-level and citywide 6 Lab Recommendations The lab produced the following recommendations as a result of its collaboration and engagement with the Municipality of Athens and stakeholders in the 3rd and 6th districts. The insights and experiences from these engagements inspired the lab to consider both citywide and district-specific recommendations that would improve the municipality’s resilience in the three thematic areas: trust and accountability, economy and placemaking. As noted throughout the report, there are challenges to designing and implementing a time-constrained process that requires outside experts to thoughtfully and thoroughly immerse themselves in issues with deep complexity and history. With these factors in mind, the Bertelsmann Foundation, GMF and the lab experts offer these recommendations as one input into Athens’ vision for a more resilient and inclusive municipality. Placemaking Group Site Visits • Municipal Art Gallery • Skate Park Latraac • Communitism Project 7 Building Trust, Accountability and Innovation Athens faces a tremendous challenge: In a time of austerity, As Athens and its people work together, they will find how can the municipality maintain basic city services while innovative solutions to their most pressing challenges. With creating opportunities for residents to improve their lives and the recommendations of the TAI group as a blueprint, the the health of the communities in which they live? Limited municipality can create a platform to support the development resources, governance challenges and externally imposed of resident-centered and resident-generated projects and controls hinder the local government’s ability to provide identify both new and latent resources to put these ideas many of the services that residents expect and deserve. into practice. Despite these challenges, there are opportunities for the The goal is to create a foundation for the recommendations Municipality of Athens to improve the lives of its residents. proposed by the economy and placemaking groups of the The municipality is constrained, but not powerless. Local Transatlantic Policy Lab. The two groups’ recommendations government, communities and other stakeholders can work feed into the innovation platform that we will create once the together to address challenges that the current economic groundwork has been laid by early trust and accountability crisis poses and meet the growing social needs of residents. efforts. The end goal for the municipality and its residents: Many Athenians are already taking action to bring to life new When a problem arises, citizens, government, business and ideas that can contribute to a positive future for the municipality. local stakeholders come together to find and implement Organizations such as Atenistas,1 Boroume2 and synAthina3 solutions and complement one another’s efforts. lead innovative projects that showcase local ingenuity and Guiding Principles dynamism in the face of enormous obstacles. For example, the We have used the following principles to guide and reflect synAthina kiosk located across from the Varvakeios Market has our actions. These guiding principles are fundamental for the hosted 2,174 activities conducted by 247 groups of citizens municipality to build a more functional, livable, inclusive and institutions since its launch in 2013. The municipality must and resilient Athens: continue to encourage and support these initiatives while incubating a new wave of novel concepts. • F ocus on the positive and the possible through positive framing Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis and the Municipal Council of Athens • Focus on inclusion and ensure that residents have what have taken initial steps to address residents’ longstanding they need to participate and prosper needs. Citizens, local government, universities and other • Ensure that communication and learning are reciprocal partners can come together to tackle Athens’ challenges and plant the seeds of restoration and renewal. If this process is • Ensure that information is transparent, provide regular thoughtfully managed, the municipality’s new diversity from updates, and track planning processes and commitments migrant populations can be a source of growth. • Be inclusive and respectful of all residents The Trust, Accountability and Innovation (TAI) group of the • Tailor engagement and communication to neighborhood Transatlantic Policy Lab proposes a municipal initiative to: 1) and block-level needs change the culture of how government serves citizens; 2) be more transparent and accountable; and 3) galvanize residents • Focus on the impact our work has on people to work toward making Athens a more functional, livable, • Collect and share quantitative and qualitative data on our inclusive and resilient city. efforts and performance Throughout the municipality’s history, people have come • Respect local and neighborhood institutions and assets and together in times of crisis. This time should be no different. include them in all activities 8