Greece Seminar

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

This Year’s Topic: Strategies for socio-ecological transformations in times of uncertainty

This year’s theme focuses on strategies for socio-ecological transformations in times of uncertainty, with a particular emphasis on socio-spatial justice. What are the relationships between global socio-spatial systems and local lived experiences? How planetary urbanisation, its dependency on economic growth, interacts and affects the socio-political and ecological systems across scales?  How can we use the critical frame of degrowth to look through possibilities, policies and actions towards sustainable and equitable ecosystems that challenge mainstream perceptions of sustainability, including circular economy, smart cities, and green technological innovations? How intersectional, decolonial, and transfeminist processes can prioritise the needs of humans and beyond humans contributing to alternative socio-spatial visions across scales? What could be the diverse personal, collective, and institutional roles in such transformations?

We will explore these questions following a systems thinking approach to address interdependence, complexity, and totality and understand interconnections and interactions in our living environments. We will promote dialogue between autonomous areas of research and action, particularly drawing insights from urban political ecology to critically reflect on how power relations, institutional dynamics, and socio-environmental inequalities shape socio-spatial development, resource use, and environmental governance.

Draft Program 

– 29.11.2024: Arrivals | Informal evening gathering

– 30.11.2024: The personal is political | Socio-spatial injustices and possibilities for change with an emphasis on race, gender, age, (dis)ability, and their intersections in between different scales.

The purpose of the first day of the Winter School is to start from the personal socio-spatial experiences and through a systems thinking approach explore the origins of socio-spatial injustices locally and globally, and their interrelations.

Collective mapping activity to reflect on socio-spatial experiences and conflicts

Open dialogues with academics, activists, citizens, and policy makers

– 1.12.2024: Putting theory into practice | Critical urban studies and degrowth

The purpose of the second day of the Winter School is to explore these socio-spatial injustices and possibilities through local cases and experiences, and increase critical thinking

Thematic study visits to community initiatives: introduction to the urban commons

Lectures on the topics of urban political ecology and degrowth

– 2.12.2024: Reclaiming the political | Strategising for for socio-ecological transformations

The purpose of the third day of the Winter School is to further build the capacity and strategies needed to support participants in realising their proposals within their own communities and/or in the context of networks and alliances. We will close the Winter School with a final evaluation

Collective artwork

Participatory Action Planning activity

– 3.12.2024: Departures

ACCOMMODATION, MEALS AND TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

The participation fee is set at €100 per person. Former participants and members of Let’s Talk about Degrowth are exempt from paying the fee. Limited scholarships of travel expenses are available, particularly for students, unemployed, participants coming from the Global South that might need visa support, or any person that could justify their need for a scholarship.

Please note that this is a self-funded international activity of Inter Alia. We encourage participants who are supported by an institution or have the financial capacity to contribute to the Winter School with a solidarity fee. This will help support the participation of more people experiencing socio-economic, mobility and/or other constraints.

Accommodation of participants that do not live in Athens are covered by Inter Alia in shared twin and triple rooms. Two festive meals will be financially covered by Inter Alia.

PARTICIPANT PROFILE

Who can participate

If you’re keen on transformative learning and wish to be part of a dynamic community aiming to foster societal change, Roots Winter School is for you.

-The Winter School welcomes participants who:

-Are over 18 years old.

-Able to be in Athens for the entire duration of the program.

-Have an academic/policy/activist background and interest in contemporary political, social, ecological, and cultural issues.

Working language is English.

Project Place: Athens, Greece

Project Date: 29 November – 2 December 2024

Application Deadline: 15 September 2024

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED INFORMATION AND APPLICATION

Not: The project participant country and deadline may change with possible updates.

The project is excerpted and shared for dissemination purposes. The project is not under the responsibility of www.epluseurope.org. We encourage you to contact the host organization for details and much more.

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