SOCIAL AND SPATIAL IMPACT OF THE CRISIS IN ATHENS - FROM CLIENTELIST REGULATION TO SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS

Following a brief introduction to the impact of globalization and economic restructuring on urban social structures, the paper depicts the for-mation of the socio-spatial structure of Athens in recent decades, the problems accumulated by the traditional regulation of urban sociospatial issues, and concludes with a discussion of the impact of the Greek sovereign debt crisis on these issues. The discussion focuses on the rather weak social polarization and segregation resulting from global forces until the mid 2000s, and on the sub-sequent change of socioeconomic and demographic conditions forming a new social and political environment in which the socially dividing impact of the current crisis is potentially becoming deep.