Arcadia
Politics of Land and Nature in Greek Peripheral Landscapes
Metaxia Markaki
What is the future of peripheral landscapes and radically depopulating mountainous regions and how do we, as architects and urban researchers, address the challenges of those regions? This dissertation shifts the focus of urban research beyond traditional city boundaries and explores processes of (extended) urbanisation, in particular that of peripheralisation, as they manifest in peripheral landscapes—seemingly pristine areas of nature and uninhabited land.
The research revisits the mythicised landscapes of Arcadia in Greece, framing a contemporary mountainous region undergoing significant depopulation. It reveals that beneath the image of a rural and bucolic backdrop, social struggles and dispossessions occur. Moreover, recent economic, environmental and energy crises have resulted in socio-ecological raptures, land dispossessions and the enclosure of commons and agricultural land, outlining a broader process of peripheralisation.
The dissertation argues that peripheralisation is not a static spatial condition, but a dynamic multi-scalar process shaped by uneven urbanisation, prominently manifesting through moments of “crisis”. It advocates for the radical reconceptualization of the experience of periphery at various spatial scales, exploring both the socioecological implications of peripheralisation, as well as the emancipatory potential latent in ex-centric territories.
The work builds upon Critical Urban Theory, employing a transductive and transdisciplinary research approach. It unfolds through oral and embodied ways of learning, engaging in qualitative, ethnographic analysis of the everyday lived experience of mountainous regions. It involves traveling and physical interaction with local communities. It is conducted through multi-sited fieldwork on Mount Mainalon, encompassing pastures, olive groves, and the forest, through participant observations, visual methods and counter-cartographies.
See also
The Tree We Hurt
Metaxia Markaki
The Travelling Grocer
Metaxia Markaki (text) and Dimitris Koutsiabasakos (film stills)
Land of No Authorship
Metaxia Markaki
Tentacular Writing
A Peer-to-peer Writing Retreat
Kentos: Socio-Ecologies of Care
Metaxia Markaki
On Peripheralisation
Metaxia Markaki
Arcadia
Peloponnese
Arcadia