Athina Vitopoulou

Athina Vitopoulou studied architecture at the AUTh School of Architecture. She did postgraduate studies in the theories and mechanisms of architectural and urban design in Paris (DEA Projet architectural et urbain: théories et dispositifs, Ecoles d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, Paris-La Villette, Paris-Villemin, Versailles and Institut Français d’Urbanisme – Université Paris 8). She wrote her doctoral thesis at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, in History and Civilisations. Her thesis, “Property and urban change in the production of public space and social facilities in the modern Greek city. The properties of the Army and the University and the formation of the urban space of Thessaloniki from 1912 to the present”, won the “Grand Prix de Thèse sur la Ville 2011” in France. She also received a series of scholarships and distinctions during her studies, as well as two postdoctoral research scholarships (AUTh and the Foundation for Education and European Culture).

Since graduating she has worked in urban design and planning, and has been part of project teams on studies and architectural competitions in urban design and planning. Since 2018 she has been a shareholder of GEOCHOROS S.A. She has extensive research and publications on the theory and practice of sustainable urban design and planning, urban sustainability and resilience, environmental design, sustainable urban mobility, urban policies, land policies, the mechanisms and processes that shape urban space, the history of cities and urban planning, the legal framework of spatial planning, and the protection and enhancement of urban cultural heritage. She has taken part in national and European research projects and has presented her research at conferences in Greece and abroad. Her papers have been published in journals, conference proceedings and collective volumes. She has also served on the organising and scientific committees of conferences, symposia, study days and design workshops, and has helped organise, document and design architecture exhibitions. From 2012 to 2015 she was a member of the founding core of the research initiative “City + Crisis” (AUTh School of Architecture). Since 2018 she has been a member of the founding core of the inter-departmental research group “City_Space_Flux” (AUTh Schools of Architecture and of Spatial Planning and Development), and since 2021 she has also been part of the “Research Unit on the Cities of the European South” of the Department of Urban Planning, Spatial Planning and Regional Development, AUTh School of Architecture.

She has taught continuously and extensively since 2002, on fixed-term contracts at the ranks of lecturer and assistant professor, in different subjects and university departments (AUTh Schools of Architecture and of Spatial Planning and Development, Department of Architecture of the University of Cyprus, School of Humanities and School of Science & Technology of the Hellenic Open University, Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying of the Serres Technological Educational Institute), covering a broad range of spatial design topics. In more detail, she has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level urban analysis; urban design and planning, with an emphasis on the regeneration and upgrading of degraded and/or traditional urban areas and on environmental factors; environmental design of cities and open spaces; environmental urban and transport planning; landscape design of urban open spaces; urban history; history and theory of urban design and planning; history of art, architecture and urban planning; the legal framework of urban planning; and introduction to architectural design. She has also supervised a significant number of diploma and research theses in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Since 2018 she has been an Assistant Professor at the AUTh School of Architecture.