During the 2021 wildfires in Greece, almost a quarter of the island of Evia went up in flames. Two years later, storm Daniel flooded the burnt area. Additionally, seasons are in turmoil due to climate change, with drought and heat becoming the norm. Especially in this rural area characterized by agriculture, the future is more than uncertain. But many people remain in the villages, struggling for their livelihoods. Somehow, life goes on, but how exactly? Through ethnographic research, the project seeks to understand the daily lives and struggles of the villagers. How do they deal with the situation practically and cope with the catastrophic circumstances? In spite of uncertain future prospects, (how) do they find confidence? Can architectures of staying be identified here — of those who stay, as well as architectures that make staying possible?
Considering the social contestations around land and livelihoods in North Evia, the project poses a timely question: How is living together and inhabiting the catastrophe being organized socially, materially, spatially and ecologically – particularly by those who live and work close to nature and its forces? By linking the ecological and the social, the (everyday) material and the political, the project bridges sociology and architectural research as well as geography and urban planning, thereby adding a rural and affect-centered perspective to the RTG “Organizing Architectures”. The research is therefore also looking at how progressive futures can become imaginable in transapocalyptic rural spaces.