Book Review: Metis in Modern Athens

Abstract

The book tells the story of Athens and the modernization of Greek society by exploring the shift from the “old Athenian houses”2 to the postwar polykatoikia. The study is not articulated from a point of view that would impose a an academic theory “from above,” but tries to understand postwar Athenian urbanism “from below” by crafting a language that explores the phenomenon in terms that would be accessible to a wider audience. Theocharopoulou analyzes behaviors, traditions and attitudes towards architecture and building as they were formed within the specific context of the historical and cultural conditions of modern Greece.