Polypolis_Athens by SARCHA at

the British Councils International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 The project is organized in collaboration with SARCHA s strategic partners in the UK: The Westminster International Law and Theory Center, Westminster University and the Urban Design MArch programme, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

www.polypolis.sarcha.gr www.facebook.com/polypolis.sarcha.gr & www.twitter.com/polypolis.SARCHA

SARCHA invites you to play

Polypolis _Athens: Become an Athenian and experience a city in crisis

Saturday, June 23, 2012, 15:00 17:00 Jeremy Bentham Room, Wilkins Building, Main Quadrangle, UCL, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London Polypolis, is a mindset shifting board game: In the rapidly deteriorating Athens center, players are assigned life roles; Immersed in an urban environment of economic recession, illegality, city phobia, rising violence and human desperation, the Athenians (Greek and immigrants, shop owners, unemployed, land owners, investors, inhabitants, entrepreneurs, intellectuals etc) enter into an agonizing and agonistic struggle to reset the citys human, physical and natural resources. The players keep reflecting, and acting upon real city conditions and watch the outcome of their decisions to unfold on the game board. The Athenians of the Polypolis social game stand up to the challenge of the crisis and have the power to transform the materiality of their city. Be one of them!!!

Book your role to play at

www.polypolis.sarcha.gr

Attending and observers please sign up as Im attending at

http://www.lfa2012.org/events/view/international-showcase-greece-polypolis-athens-become-anathenian-and-experience-a-city-in-crisis-232

for further info contact us by e-mail: info@sarcha.gr

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Info on SARCHA and POLYPOLIS

SARCHA (School of ARCHitecture for All) not-for-profit founded in 2006 in Athens. www.sarcha.gr

An expanding open structure with currently 218 associates of various backgrounds in different countries; It has initiated international research programs which contributed to systematizing city problems such as, the potential of the un-built condition and its relation to the category of the public, the impact of immigration onto the city, the rethinking of the city as a pool of resources to be administered in common, and the city of Athens as experienced by its youth. SARCHAs work has been shortlisted at The Resourceful Architect competition (the Royal Society of Arts, and the Architecture Foundation, London 2011).

The current work on Polypolis uses a social game that reverses the logic of 'monopoly' of 'one winner takes all', adapts it specifically to the complex issues facing contemporary cities and experiments with different ways in which the common resources of the city can be held and mobilised in common by its inhabitants.

POLYPOLIS www.polypolis.sarcha.gr

The Polypolis game was initially conceived as a testing ground for SARCHAs CCR: CityCommonResource (2010-2011) research theme and the CCR Athens Gerani 2010 pilot study (selected material of the study at http://sites.google.com/site/ccrpkpgerani2010/ ). Four different groups of players strive to resolve complex issues related to the existing human/physical/natural resources within city blocks.

As the current economic crisis hits a number of European countries, Polypolis social game takes a life on its own; it uses a playful manner to train/educate city inhabitants to cope in common with issues that affect their lifes resources. In this context, SARCHA has started to develop local adaptations of the Polypolis such as the ones in Rome and in Thessaloniki (see list below).

The initial proposal, for the playing of the game at the British Councils International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 was to develop a London version of the Polypolis. Since then, under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in London but with no public funding, Polypolis was selected to be the official participation of Greece to the London Festival of Architecture. Meanwhile, the economic crisis in the country has deepen; It seemed quite appropriate to use the game as a means to communicate to a wider audience the city conditions in Athens and invite people to get involved in confronting the effects of the crisis. The players would be immersed into the city conditions, to devise plans for the reset of existing resources.

List of the POLYPOLIS presentations/game testing

Already played at

Polypolis_Gerani, with the Mayor of Athens in the role of the Polypolis Athens Mayor Youth in Action EU program, Athens, Greece 9/6/2012

Polypolis_Roma at the Urban transcripts workshops, University Roma 3, under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in Rome - Rome, Italy 13-18/12 Polypolis_Athens at Moraitis School - Athens, Greece, 12/10/2011 Polypolis_Athens at the p-public festival - Chania, Greece, 6/6 2011

Already presented at

Athens Biennale, Monodrome - Athens, Greece 4/12/2011 Public space wanted Conference Thessaloniki, Greece 22/10/2011

Current

Polypolis_Athens Participation of Greece at the British Councils International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012, , London, UK 23 /3/ 2012

In preparation

Polypolis_Thessaloniki with the support of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, October 2012 Polypolis_Tainiothiki Athens Greece, 2012

Under consideration SARCHA seeks strategic partnerships to develop versions of Polypolis in different urban contexts and countries. Polypolis_Frankfurt, Polypolis_Zurich, Polypolis_Dublin, Polypolis_ Rowanta

The SARCHA POLYPOLIS_ Athens in London working team

Following the open call, the SARCHA associates who have initially contributed to the shaping of the program, joined forces with all those interested to work together in the following open team: Dr Maria Theodorou architect, , Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Professor of Law & Theory, Co-Director, The Westminster International Law & Theory Centre, Julia Chryssostalis Principal Lecturer, Co-Director, Westminster International Law and Theory Centre, Jason Coleman architect Lecturer at UCL MArch UD, Nicholas Boyarsky architect Lecturer at UCL MArch UD, alliope ontozoglou architect, Dr Eugenia Fratzeskou author, critic, educator, Sofia Asteriadi architect MA, Camila Sotomayor architect PhD candidate, Petros Tsitnidis architect MSc, Lina Liakou architect MArch, Clelia Thermou architect MArch, Ioanna Pothou architect MArch, Panagiota Theofilatou architect MSc, Veta Gerliotou, architect, Elena Chantzis, architect, Georgios Koulouris MEng, Stephanie Triantafyllou AA architecture student, Konstantilenia Koulouri AA architecture student. A number of MArch UD, UCL students

were involved in the Polypolis London set up, among which Judith Kelemen, Mitra Tafazolint, Lisa Hinderdael, Paulina Maneta, Zoe Spiliopoulou, Andi Schmied, Lieve Smout, Jack Pritchard.

Info on the International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 organizers British Council The British Council is the UKs international cultural relations organisation. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people. The architecture design fashion department at the British Council works with the most exciting young and established practitioners in the UK, putting on a range of events, exhibitions, workshops and talks around the world. We help to connect UK designers with the rest of the world and to increase understanding of British design overseas. For further information about the British Councils London 2012 Festival programme please visit; www.britishcouncil.org/new/london-2012 backoftheenvelope.britishcouncil.org London Festival of Architecture The London Festival of Architecture 2012 is organised by the Architecture Foundation, British Council, NLA and RIBA London and sponsored by Berkeley Group, Land Securities, The Mayor of London and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. www.lfa2012.org.