General culture

Slot 1 · Fri 27 Nov · 09:30–11:00

1. 1.Stray Cats and Cat Ladies: leftover ecologies of urban care in Athens, Greece

   Dimitris Bormpoudakis

   • Callisto - Wildlife and Nature Conservation Society
   Abstract

   This paper explores the infrastructures that people (mainly older women or “cat ladies”) build for stray cats on the streets of central Athens, using leftovers: cardboard boxes, old plastic bags, discarded furniture, food containers, and other residual materials of everyday urban life. I approach these small, improvised constructions as socio-material and affective infrastructures of more-than-human care, produced within conditions of urban crisis, depletion, and a deepening crisis of care. Built in marginal spaces (a pavement in front of a derelict building, a former café currently in ruins, a small overgrown lot, the space around an urban tree) these infrastructures sustain everyday life for both cats and humans alike. The paper focuses on the relations developed between stray cats and the women who care for them. In Athens, caring for stray cats is a highly gendered and often stigmatised activity, frequently rendered invisible or dismissed as insignificant. Yet this discredited labour can be understood as a city-sustaining and potentially transformative practice. Through the lens of feminist and more-than-human geography, I argue that these relations of care illuminate how urban space is continuously remade through multispecies forms of social reproduction. Humans care for cats, cats care for humans, and leftovers mediate this relationship, becoming the material basis through which urban conviviality, attachment, and survival are organised. Methodologically, the paper draws on mapping and photography to document the micro-sites where these relationships unfold. Photography is used not simply to record these spaces, but to attend to the textures, materials, and spatial improvisations through which care becomes visible. In doing so, the paper proposes these leftover infrastructures as reproductive commons: fragile yet vital socio-ecological formations through which more convivial urban futures are sustained.

2. 2.Larissa as a Cultural Landscape: Memory, Identity, and Lived Experience through the Interconnection of the Katsigras Collection with the Wider Surrounding Space

   Evangelos Pavlis, Marina Papoutsi

   • Agricultural University of Athens
   Abstract

   This study conceptualizes the city of Larissa as a cultural landscape, focusing on the interrelations between memory, identity, and lived experience as mediated through visual art and spatial practice. Drawing on selected paintings from the Katsigras Collection, housed in the Municipal Art Gallery of Larissa, the research investigates how artistic representations can be mobilized as interpretive entry points for understanding and re-experiencing the urban landscape. The central objective is to develop a framework for cultural routes that connect the museum collection with the broader urban environment, thus facilitating a transition from passive visual consumption to active, embodied engagement with place. The methodological approach integrates theoretical and applied perspectives from cultural geography and experience design, particularly focusing on key dimensions such as memory–identity–spatiality, authenticity, and carrying capacity. The Katsigras Collection is treated as a visual archive that encapsulates the symbolic and material dimensions of the local landscape, enabling thematic categorization and interpretive mapping. Concurrently, selected landmarks of Larissa are analyzed as multisensory nodes within the cultural landscape, linked conceptually and experientially to specific artworks. Based on this synthesis, the study proposes the design of structured cultural routes organized around thematic stations and tailored to diverse user groups, including residents, students, and visitors. These routes aim to enhance participatory engagement and foster a deeper, experiential understanding of the landscape, bridging the gap between representation and lived reality. The expected outcomes include: (a)a systematic categorization of the Katsigras Collection as a landscape-oriented visual corpus; (b)the identification and interpretation of key urban landmarks through a cultural landscape lens; (c)the design and documentation of cultural routes as tools for cultural tourism and landscape education; and (d)the formulation of a collaborative governance framework involving the museum, local authorities, and stakeholders. Ultimately, the study contributes to the integration of cultural heritage, spatial experience, and sustainable local development.

3. 3.Strategic autonomy and regional development: The contribution of regional foresight to addressing geopolitical challenges

   Akis Kalamaras

   • University of Thessaly
   Abstract

   The new geopolitical environment, as it is shaping up brings back to the fore the debate on the strategic autonomy (Lippert, Ondarza, & Perthes, 2019) of the European Union. However, strategic autonomy is neither a self-evident nor a fully achievable goal in absolute terms, especially in an environment of interdependencies. The question, therefore, could concern whether regions are able to chart sustainable development paths within conditions of geopolitical uncertainty. The presentation formulates a research agenda that links the geopolitical dimension to regional development through foresight (Gavigan & Scapolo, 2001). Central questions are: (a) can the region be understood as a geopolitical actor with a distinct strategic capacity? and (b) under what institutional and methodological conditions does foresight function as a form of governance capable of managing systemic uncertainty? Our aim is to examine whether strategic autonomy can be considered as an outcome of regional anticipatory governance(OECD, 2021). In this context, regional foresight is proposed as a strategic navigation tool, capable of linking development policy to changing geopolitical conditions. References Gavigan, J. P., & Scapolo, F. (2001). A practical guide to regional foresight FOREN Netowork. Luxemburg: European Commision Research Directorate General. Lippert, B., Ondarza, N. v., & Perthes, V. (2019). European strategic autonomy: actors, issues, conflicts of interests. OECD. (2021). Foresight and Anticipatory Governance in Practice. Lessons in effective foresight institutionalisation. Strategic Foresight Unit. Office of the Secretary-General: OECD.