Christodoulou Charis

CV in short:

Charis Christodoulou (Architect Engineer MΑ | Urban Designer MA | Urban Planning and Urban Geography PhD) is Associate Professor in Urban Planning - Urban Design and Urban Geography Issues at the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Charis Christodoulou studied architecture at the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (ΜΑ 1995 – Thesis project:  “Regeneration of 12 Apostles’ Byzantine Church Urban Quarter in the Historic Centre of Thessaloniki”).  She pursued post-graduate studies in Urban Design at the Joint Centre for Urban Design, Schools of Architecture & Planning, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford (MA 1996 - Thesis title: “Urban Regeneration and Cultural Interventions in European Cities at the Turn of the Century”). Her doctoral research grounded the hypothesis of a new socio-spatial order discernible in European cities in the period following the ‘70s - and in specific its variation in the South, in which the concentration of new forms of poverty and exclusion go hand-in-hand with that of globalized entrepreneurial planning (PhD 2008, School of Architecture AUTH – Title of Doctorate Thesis: “Urbanization and Spaces of Social Exclusion: Habitation Patterns in the Periphery of Thessaloniki, 1980-2000”).

She has taken part in several research projects in the field of urban regeneration, urban design and urban planning and housing in Greek cities. She is a founding member and coordinator of actions at the Research Unit for the Cities of the European South at the Department of Urban Planning, Spatial Planning & Regional Development, School of Architecture AUTh (http://southeuropean-cities.arch.auth.gr/en).

Her work as a professional architect – urban designer and planner includes design work and consultancy to local authorities on issues of ekistics, urban strategies and participatory design, as well as architectural interventions, in the framework of national and European projects. Her design work within a number of teams has received distinctions in several international architectural and urban design competitions.

Charis Christodoulou taught urban design and urban planning, theory and urban synthesis in architectural and urban scale, and space – place - gender discourse at the School of Architecture, University of Thessaly in Volos (lecturer on contract, 2001-2005). She has been teaching urban design (theory and studio), urban and landscape planning and urban geography at pre-graduate and post-graduate level at the School of Architecture, Aristotle University Thessaloniki since 2009. Since 2020 she has taught urban theory, tourism and heritage in urban environments at the Postgraduate Course ‘Tourism and Local Development’ of the School of Economics AUTh. She has taught as a visiting professor in several universities in the UK, Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands.

Knowledge field:

Urban planning, urban design, urban geography: theory and practices, socio-spatial transformation of the contemporary city, Greek cities, cities of the European South, urban (design) governance, gender perspectives, social affordable housing, urban and landscape tourism

Research interests:

Urban planning: sprawl, statutory framework and urbanization processes, Greek cities’ specificities, landscape planning

Urban design: urban regeneration strategies and sustainability – issues of planning, management, implementation and effects, urban design processes and participation, environmental urban design, historic urban landscapes

Socio-spatial transformation of cities of the European South in the framework of globalization – internationalization: urban dispersion, segregation, spaces of social exclusion, urban resilience – fragility, habitation of vulnerable groups and communities, urbanization processes and tourism, landscape change

Gender mainstreaming urban design and urban planning

European policies in the urban environment, social inclusion and housing

Recent publications:

Authored Books:

Christodoulou, C., Vartholomaios, A., & Oikonomou, M. (2024) Sustainable (?) Urban Design. Studio Handbook. Kallipos, Open Academic Editions (in Greek). https://dx.doi.org/10.57713/kallipos-418

Christodoulou, C. (2015) Landscapes of Sprawl. Urbanization and Urban Planning. The Periphery of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press ISBN: 978-960-12-2222-6 (in Greek).

Edited volumes and Contribution in Books :

Christodoulou, C. (2020) Gender Mainstreaming Urban Planning and Design Processes in Greece, in Inés Sánchez de Madariaga & Michael Neuman (eds) (2020) Engendering Cities. Designing Sustainable Urban Spaces for All, 1st Edition, Routledge, Chapter 13, pp.229-242.

Christodoulou, C. (2020) The post-war transformation of the Thessaloniki periphery. Urbanization and landscape, in Dimitris Keridis & John Brady Kiesling (eds) (2020)Thessaloniki, a City in Transition, 1912–2012, 1st Edition, Routledge, Chapter 20, pp.310-332.

Christodoulou, C. (2020) From the demarcated project to the common horizon: Insights into the institutional processes of landscape planning with the European Landscape Convention as a point of departure, Athanassiadou, E., A.Mavridou, A.Papadopoulou (eds) Implementation of the European Landscape Convention. Liabilities in Design and Planning Projects, Thessaloniki: Ziti Pyblications, pp.167-172 [in Greek]

Athanassiou, E. and C.Christodoulou (eds) (2019) City Under Construction. Plans, Processes and Practices for Space in Thessaloniki, Conference Proceedings, Thessaloniki, 12-13 Oct. 2018, Research Unit for South European Cities, School of Architecture AUTh, ISBN: 978-618-83231-3-1 (in Greek).

Christodoulou, C. (2019) National perspective of Greece - Legal Planning Framework, in section: National perspectives of nine European countries: planning systems and gender impact, edited by S.Tuggener and B.Zibell, in B.Zibell, D.Damyanovic and U. Sturm (eds) Gendered Appraches to Spatial Development in Europe. Perspectives, Similarities, Differences. London & New York: Routledge, pp.54-55.

Athanassiou,E., C.Christodoulou, M.Kapsali and M. Karagianni (2018) Hybridizing ‘Ownership’ of Public Space. Framings of Urban Emancipation in Crisis-Ridden Thessaloniki. In Knierbein, S. and Viderman, T. (eds) Public Space Unbound. Urban Emancipation and the Post-Political Condition. London & New York: Routledge, pp.251-265.

Selected Journal and conference papers:

Gemenetzi, G. & C.Christodoulou (2023) Landscapes and Coastalization: Transformations and Planning Issues - The Case of Thessaloniki, Geographies, 41: 70-90. [in Greek]

Christodoulou, C. & A.Torre (2023) “Mind Landscapes!” Landscape-Conscious Policy, Planning and Design Across Scales, Landscape Architecture: Education, Research and Practice, Conference, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki.

Christodoulou, C. (2023) Urban development projects as trojan horses, 8th International Conference on Applied Economics, “Economics and the Social Sciences in the Age of AI”, Special Session: Neoliberalism, Social reproduction, and gender: Decoding the new challenges, University of Thessaly, Volos.

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Oikonomou, M, C. Christodoulou (2022) Evolution and transformation processes of urban form. Urban tissues in Thessaloniki, Greece, International Seminar of Urban Form. 

Christodoulou, C. (2022) Street Life Adapting to Pandemic Lockdown Temporalities – Reflections in the Context of Greek Cities, City Street 5 Conference Proceedings, Lisbon (in print)

Torre A. & C.Christodoulou (2021) Co-Creation of Narratives for “Minor” Sites of Cultural Heritage in Euro-Mediterranean Peri-Urban Areas: Conditions of a Small Temple on the East Coast of Attica, Greece. Heritage, 4(4): 2918-2941. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040163

Christodoulou, C. (2019) The ‘Urban Development Game’ in Architectural Education: Moodle as a Pedagogical Facilitator to Simulate Urban Development Processes, Presentation at the 3rd MoodleMoot 2019 Greece Conference organized by the IT Center of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  and the Library & Information Centre of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Open University, the Greek School Network, the Advanced Educational Technologies and Mobile Applications Lab (AETMA Lab) of International Hellenic University, the Laboratory of Didactics of Physics and Educational Technology (EDIFET) of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Political Economy and Sustainable Development Lab of National Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Central Library of the National Technical University of Athens, the Developmental Center of Thessaly and the GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance, 28-29th Nov. (https://assets.moodlemoot.org/sites/123/20191216133057/B.1.4.-The-%E2%80%98Urban-Development-Game%E2%80%99_Christodoulou.pdf)

Christodoulou, C. (2018) Interview on Relational-Material Approaches of Urban Morphology, in the Resources of the EPUM international research project “Emerging Perspectives On Urban Morphology: Researching And Learning Through Multiple Practices”, Film, http://epum.eu/?page_id=379

M.Oikonomou (2018) Urban sprawl typologies in medium-sized Greek cities. Α qualitative morphological analysis in the peri-urban landscape. In N. Charalambous, N. Zafer Cömert, Ş. Hoşkara eds., Urban Morphology in South-Eastern Mediterranean Cities: Challenges and Opportunities, Proceedings of the 1st Regional Conference: Cyprus Network of Urban Morphology, 16 -18 May 2018, Buffer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus, Nicosia 2019 ISBN: 978-1-5136-5221-4, pp. 134-146. (cynum.org)

Christodoulou, C., S.Lada (2017) Urban design in the neoliberal era: reflecting on the Greek case. Journal of Urban Design, Volume 22, Issue 2: Theme Issue: Urban Design in an Age of Recession, pp.144-146, https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2017.1288875

Link MODIP: https://qa.auth.gr/en/cv/christodoulou