Lecture
University of Cyprus, Department of Architecture

Politics of Unsettlement: Counter-Histories from the Mountainous PeripheryMetaxia Markaki

What is the future of mountainous depopulating regions, and how idyllic are peripheral mountainous lands? The lecture explores processes of urbanisation and the politics of unsettlement that occur in peripheral landscapes. In particular, we revisit the mythicised landscapes of Arcadia in Greece, framing a contemporary, radically depopulating mountainous region. Through oral histories and material collected from fieldwork, we reveal an unprecedented operation of land-grabbing, enclosure, and privatisation that has been currently taking place in Greek peripheral landscapes. The aim is to draw attention and cast light to latent practices which resist and social movements against the enclosure of commons.