PhD thesis/ ongoing research/ publications

“It takes a lot of things to change the world:
Anger and tenacity. Science and indignation,
The quick initiative, the long reflection,
The cold patience and the infinite perseverance,
The understanding of the particular case and the understanding of the ensemble:
Only the lessons of reality can teach us to transform reality”
Einverständnis - Bertolt Brecht

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the complex nature of the ‘real’ urban form. The thesis also aims to produce original and analytical knowledge on the formation, shaping, evolution and transformation of urban tissues in Greek cities.

Thessaloniki was chosen as a case study for the field research. It is considered as a special case with typical characteristics of a Greek city, common features with other cities of the European South but also with a multi-dimensional physiognomy that makes it remarkable.

The methodology combines historic-geographic, typo-morphological and relational-material approaches and proposes an analytical framework from the scale of the city and the analysis of the urban whole, moving to the intermediate scale and to urban fragments (parts), and finally to the scale of urban blocks.

The two last scales are still unexplored fields of research for the existing tissues in urban space of cities and especially of Greek cities. Their combination could work as an ideal tool to read the multi-dimensional transformations and morphological processes in space and time.

(written in greek)

Follow the link for more info and updates.

supervised by Charis Christodoulou, Associate Professor.

where: Department of Urban Planning and Regional Development, School of Architecture, A.U.Th.

when: on-going

publications:

OIKONOMOU, M. (2016). The Greek urban block since the establishment of the Greek State in 19th century. A chronicle about morphology and urban form, in: International Planning History Society Proceedings, [S.l.], v. 17, n. 2, jun. 2016, pp. 413-422. Available online

ΣΤΑΘΑΚΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Π., ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΟΥ, Μ. (2014) Ο ρόλος του οικοδομικού τετραγώνου στην πόλη, στο: Αφιέρωμα στον Θαλή Αργυρόπουλο 1923-2013, Αθήνα: ΣΕΠΟΧ, σσ. 113-118 (in greek). Available online

Literature Sources (selection):

BUSQUETS, J., YANG, D., KELLER, M. (2019) Urban grids: handbook for regular city design. Novato, CA : ORO Editions

KROPF, K. (2017) The handbook of urban morphology. Chichester: Wiley

MALFROY, S. (2021) The Model of the Urban Organism in the Theory of Gianfranco Caniggia, in: Institut Urban Landscape ZHAW (ed.) (2021) A Morphological Approach to Cities and Their Regions. Triest Verlag: Zürich, pp. 135-184

MOUDON, A. V. (1997) Urban morphology as an emerging interdisciplinary field, στο: Urban Morphology 1, σσ. 3-10

OIKONOMOU, M. (2016) The Greek Urban Block since the Establishment of the Greek State in 19th Century – A Chronicle about Morphology and Urban Form, in: Hein, C. (ed.) (2016) International Planning History Society Proceedings, 17th IPHS Conference, History-Urbanism- Resilience, TU Delft, 17-21 Ιουλίου 2016, 17 (2) , pp. 413 - 422

OLIVEIRA, V. (2016) Urban Morphology. The Urban Book Series. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing

PANERAI, P., CASTEX, J., DEPAULE, J.-C., SAMUELS, I. (2004) Urban forms: The death and life of the urban block. Oxford: Architectural Press