This CYA Urbanism & Sustainability course is all about Fieldwork.
Global Cities: The Case of the Port of Piraeus offers the opportunity to explore complex urban contexts in the era of globalization. Providing real-life exercises by focusing on the case of Piraeus, students have the chance to make their own direct observations and practice critical thinking on socio-spatial inequalities.
Visiting key areas around Piraeus port, students are able to comprehend the variety of forces that shape the built environment. From brownfield sites to places of archaeological interest, Piraeus offers a fruitful field for in-depth research and analysis. With the guidance of their instructor, students visit the ancient gates of Piraeus, the new investment zone around the port and a forthcoming flagship project. They also visit listed architectural monuments and industrial brownfield sites with archaeological concerns.
Given the interdisciplinary character of the course, students work together in groups to collect fieldwork findings with the help of specialized educational material. Their field work is then combined with literature review, helping them gain well-rounded, international experience in the field of urban planning. The ultimate purpose of the course is to help students understand what lies beneath an area of strategic interest using a methodology that encourages students to make their own suggestions for further development to support general cohesion in the area of study.
Abby Chernila initially applied to CYA to study in the Fall of 2018. While in Greece, she was so immersed in the culture and opportunities here that she decided to stay until May 2019, the CYA full year, while interning at the important thinktank IOBE. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College, Abby returned to Greece during Fall 2021 on a Fulbright grant to conduct research on the regeneration of abandoned brownfield sites with CYA Professor Evgenia Tousi and the University of West Attica. While on her Fulbright, she accompanied Professor Tousi in her Global Cities course at CYA.
“Coming from an economics background, the Global Cities course was a cornerstone for my interdisciplinary interests, as we were able to study the intersection of urban planning, sustainability, tourism, competitiveness, and policy. Between the field trips and international case studies, this course made large-scale urban topics seem tangible and sparked my interest in further researching the EU’s and Greece’s policies on abandoned land.”
Here is Abby speaking about this CYA Course in relation to her career choices.
Evgenia Tousi, PhD (National Technical U of Athens) has worked as a freelance architect and urban planner since 2007. She holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture (2007) from National Technical University of Athens, a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning (NTUA,2009) and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Design of Cities and Buildings (Hellenic Open University, 2017). She is currently conducting a second postdoctoral research on the environmental impact of different scales of open urban spaces, at the University of West Attica, School of Civil Engineering. She has been teaching since 2010 in several BA and MA programs. In addition, Tousi has participated in many research projects and is currently an adjunct lecturer at the School of Interior Architecture, University of West Attica. You can read her full bio on the CYA Website.
Dr. Tousi’s courses at CYA:
