Rock the Block

Rock the Block is an innovative initiative aimed at addressing the housing challenges faced by Greek cities, such as aging buildings, unaffordable housing, and the ongoing energy crisis. These challenges not only prevent people from accessing quality housing but also make it difficult to build strong local communities and networks of mutual care and support that go beyond individual households, limiting the ability for neighbors to rely on one another and work together for common well-being.

In response to these challenges, the Rock the Block project centers on polykatoikias (apartment blocks) as units of intervention, targeting technical, environmental, and community-oriented transformations. The goal is to create affordable, community-centered living spaces that reflect the reality that affordable housing is both a fundamental right and an essential need. By adopting this multifaceted approach, Rock the Block aims to address shared housing problems through collective action, ensuring that the solutions are sustainable, inclusive, and accessible to all residents.

The three main pillars of Rock the Block are:

• Technical Transformations: This includes green, digital, aesthetic, functional, circular, and inclusive upgrades within the polykatoikias. Residents will be invited to participate through an open call, ensuring that their needs and aspirations are incorporated into the changes.
• Community Building and Empowerment: The project fosters social cohesion within neighborhoods by promoting community-building activities, raising awareness, and empowerment programs focused on addressing housing needs.
• Institutional Interventions for Care and Support: This pillar includes the creation of a ‘Co-living Hub’ and a ‘Housing Office’ (a one-stop-shop for housing assistance) in municipal spaces, with the Municipality of Egaleo playing a central role in supporting housing affordability and community activation.

Through this comprehensive approach, Rock the Block presents an innovative model for tackling fragmented housing strategies that often fall short of addressing the needs of residents. 

At URBANA, we are committed to embedding values of inclusion, participation, and gender perspectives throughout the project, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to actively shape the future of their shared spaces. By organizing participatory workshops, we will engage residents in the reimagining and redesign of shared spaces, such as courtyards, terraces, and communal areas. These workshops will ensure that the re-designed spaces will meet the diverse needs of all residents, fostering safety, inclusivity, and supporting the creation of networks of solidarity and mutual care.

Explore the key insights from the 2025 participatory workshops held with residents of 10 polykatoikias in Egaleo.

During the last two months, URBANA has been facilitating a series of open workshops with the residents of Egaleo, West Attica, in order to rethink common spaces - both physical and social- in more inclusive and caring terms. These workshops reflected the social dynamics of the neighbourhood by creating a space where collective dreams, aspirations, worries, and concerns could be openly shared, discussed, and collectively (re)imagined. Through group discussions and mapping participants explored everyday experiences of the neighbourhood, identified challenges and opportunities, and co-produced ideas for more resilient commons. 

These participatory workshops resulted in the formation of three neighbourhood working groups:

The Communal Gardening Group: Aiming to establish a community garden where neighbours can meet, grow, harvest, and enjoy their own vegetables while exchanging knowledge and skills related to gardening.

The Stray Cats Care Group: Aiming to build a neighbourhood network dedicated to caring for stray cats by providing fresh food and water, as well as designing and constructing cat shelters from wood and other reusable materials.

The Neighbourhood Food Network: Aiming to create a community that shares recipes, cooks meals collectively, and distributes food among neighbours, fostering connection through shared culinary practices.

These workshops created an open space for collectively imagining alternative urban futures while strengthening relationships and reinforcing a shared sense of belonging, solidarity, and collective agency.

Stay informed about the latest Rock the Block updates by visiting the project’s website, LinkedIn and instagram!