The evolving modalities of gentrification in Athens vis-à-vis Greece’s shifting growth models: Insight from a novel multi-scalar approach

Abstract

Gentrification theory remains highly relevant, particularly amid an escalating international housing crisis. Yet, in Southern Europe, despite soaring rents and deepening dependence on tourism, the analytical rigour of gentrification theory is contested. This article draws on early accounts from within critical geography and employs a novel, multi-scalar approach, combining secondary, primary and policy analysis, to examine waves of gentrification in Athens, an illustrative Southern European metropolis, vis-à-vis domestic growth models. Its analysis distinguishes two waves of gentrification up to the 2004 Olympic Games gradually restructuring Athens’ inner city amid Greece’s primarily urbanisation-driven growth. It also identifies two further waves to the present during which time gentrification sprawled outward and intertwined with touristification. The findings show gentrification in Athens evolving as Greece’s construction-driven model shifted towards tourism dependence; initially, to exploit emerging rent gaps and rationalise inner-city landscapes amid the structural weaknesses of domestic industry, and subsequently, to restructure property markets towards tourism-related uses and facilitate debt-driven financialisation. Building on these findings, the article argues that gentrification in Athens not only adapts to shifting sectoral priorities but actively accommodates future trends, including touristification. Moreover, stressing that the imperative of extracting value from the built environment has remained diachronically unchallenged, it emphasises gentrification in Athens’ function as a key spatial fix for capital in Greece. In doing so, the article re-situates the process within broader cycles of uneven spatial development, underscores the analytical capacity of gentrification theory and provincialises urban theory beyond the dominant Anglo-centric discourse.