Impact Hub Athens as a cultural force in the city
At the beginning of 2018, while studying Cultural Management at Panteion University, one of our graduate courses got us thinking about cities. Under the lead of Professor Betty Tsakarestou, who is the project initiator of the Athens Co-Creation City Branding Project we started discussing ways to make our city more sustainable, smart, open and better for the people that inhabit it.
Our team (Karolina A. Mackiewicz, Maximos S. Theo. and Ioanna Kakalidi) was challenged to study cities around the globe in order to understand what it is we as cultural managers can do to create a better future for the city we live in.
We case-studied the Global YouthfulCity Index, we evaluated Athens for its strengths and potential and we got in touch with two initiatives in the city and learned about the ways they re-brand and co-create Athens (Impact Hub, Serafio).
Transforming the urban landscape
We were looking for initiatives that bond the community, offering opportunities for local artists, entrepreneurs, educators and citizens to meet, create and co-exist. We came across the Kypseli Municipal Market project, a synergy between the Municipality of Athens and Impact Hub Athens that aspires to revive a historic Athenian neighbourhood. D. Kokkinakis and S. Labrou, founders of Impact Hub Athens discussed with us the idea behind the project and the steps towards its implementation.
The Hub
Situated in a beautiful, renovated neoclassical building at Karaiskaki St., Impact Hub Athens offers a welcoming and inspiring work and meeting environment to its partners and to everyone looking for a place to collaborate, host events or just meet creative professionals.
Part of an international cooperative network it promotes social change through entrepreneurship and innovation, aiming at creating a sustainable present and future for the city. It’s a global community that acts locally and focuses on creating innovation habitats and human networks that generate responsible solutions to social and urban challenges. Artists, academics, entrepreneurs, activists and change-driven citizens unite under a common goal. It provides mentors, tools and funding opportunities and welcomes new models for creativity and sustainable businesses. The driving force behind each project is the pathos to strengthen urban communities and to place Athens on the international map of smart cities, as their latest endeavor shows.
The agora of Kypseli
The Kypseli Municipal Market was built in 1935 and has always been the heart of this historical Athenian neighbourhood. It was threatened by demolition but saved after the interventions of significant citizens. Abandoned for many years, now it is coming back to life thanks to a strategic planning to rebrand Athens. The purpose is the revival and transformation of the Market so that it becomes a hospitable and supportive meeting point for locals. Impact Hub invites social entrepreneurs who can provide educational and cultural activities, such as green businesses, workshops for children, art exhibitions and civil society initiatives in order to promote participatory urbanism. This coaction aims at revitalizing the local economy and cultural activity by engaging the inhabitants of the Kypseli neighbourhood. For the next two years, through open calls, citizens and professionals will be able to participate in shaping what the future of the Kypseli Market has the potential to be.
The project is ambitious and encouraging for reshaping a once vibrant neighbourhood and making it the center of an engaged community again. The challenge is to ensure it embodies the authentic needs and characteristics of the people it is made for, so its existence is organic to the city reality. It is also a great opportunity to test the dynamics among numerous stakeholders and their ability for long-term cooperation. Last but not least, it is a reminder of the potential of each individual citizen to have an impact on the city they live in.
