Georgios Kaminis, Mayor of Athens, will offer his reflections on Athens’ SynAthina programme, which has won Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayor’s Challenge Award, in the context of Athens’ economic and social reality.

SynAthina programme,which began in 2013, supports and facilitates citizens’ groups engaged in improving the quality of life in the city. By supporting the activities of the citizens the City creates a new perception about the relationship between civic society and local governance. 

Following his speech, Georgios Kaminis will join a panel who will respond to his vision and future plans. 

Georgios Kaminis was elected Mayor of Athens in November 2010, and re-elected in 2014. He was awarded the 2016 World Mayor Prize for his achievements in welcoming immigrants. Under his guidance, Athens has won several international awards including the Mayor’s Challenge Award for its citizens’ engagement platform “synAthina” by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the “European Capital of Innovation 2018” award of the European Commission. Prior to his election, Kaminis served as Assistant Greek Ombudsman, responsible for Human Rights (1998 to May 2003) and Greek Ombudsman, unanimously elected twice by the Greek Parliament (2003, 2007).

Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in European Politics. He is the Director of the Hellenic Observatory. He has held visiting positions at the University of Minnesota; New York University; and Harvard University.  Before LSE, he held academic posts at the universities of Stirling and Bradford. He was the first foreign member of the National Council for Research and Technology (ESET) in Greece, serving from 2010-2013.  He is Vice-Chair of the Academic Council of 'Atomium Culture', Brussels, a not-for-profit promoting collaboration within the European Research Area.  In 2013 he was made ‘Commander: Order of the Phoenix’ by the President of the Hellenic Republic.  In 2014, the European Parliament selected one of his books (co-authored with Kenneth Dyson) as one of its ‘100 Books on Europe to Remember’. He has contributed regularly to ‘Kathimerini’.

Myria Georgiou is Professor of Media and Communications in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She holds a PhD in Sociology from LSE, an MSc in Journalism from Boston University and a BA in Sociology from Panteion University, Athens. Her research focuses on media and the city; urban technologies and politics of connection; and the ways in which migration and diaspora are politically, culturally and morally constituted in the context of mediation. For more than 20 years she has been conducting and leading cross-national and transurban research across Europe and between British and American cities. She has also worked as a journalist for BBC World Service, Greek press, and the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.

Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age project. He is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and was chief advisor on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and architectural advisor to the Mayor of London from 2001 to 2006. He was director of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2006. With Deyan Sudjic he is co-editor of The Endless City (2007) and Living in the Endless City (2011) and, with Philipp Rode Shaping Cities in an Urban Age (2018).

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The Hellenic Observatory  (@HO_LSE)  is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.

LSE Cities is an international centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science that carries out research, graduate and executive education and outreach activities in London and abroad. It studies how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focusing on how the physical form and design of cities impacts on society, culture and the environment.