Forms of vertical segregation in the contemporary city of Athens

Vertical social segregation as a separation of different social groups in apartment buildings is a phenomenon that mainly appears in the cities of Southern Europe and in some cities of Western and Central Europe. The focus of this paper is the Athenian model of vertical segregation, which shares similarities with the models of other European cities but has its own distinct features. By focusing on the Athenian case, this paper aims to contribute to the broader discussion of segregation at the micro-scale. The study documented here, based on two specific cases, will shed light on the details of the Athenian case. The data were collected within the framework of a recently completed research project on the Municipality of Athens, where vertical segregation is very present. Therefore, this paper is based on the micro-data of the ISTOPOL project (https://www.istopol.gr/) and on their analysis as part of the SeDe (https://www.sedeproject.eu/), an ongoing research project. The paper describes the types of micro-segregation existing in two apartment blocks located in different neighbourhoods of the inner city. The main questions addressed were whether these two buildings followed the typical vertical segregation model and whether the structure and the internal design of the specific buildings affected the type of segregation. The study reveals that while the model of vertical segregation is evident in the two case studies, the actual reality is more complex than theoretically expected. The internal design of the buildings has significantly influenced the type of segregation.