The nexus between energy poverty and vertical segregation in Athens

Abstract

In Greece domestic energy poverty has become a widespread phenomenon nowadays , expanding beyond the vulnerable social groups to the declining middle class. Amid financial constraints, rise of fuel prices and market-oriented national policies on housing and energy transition, energy deprivation emerges as a multifaceted problem that reveals how broader geopolitical dynamics are reflected in the everyday practice of households. The phenomenon has been associated with three factors: 1. household income level, 2. energy costs and 3. energy efficiency of residencies. Thus, it derives from systemic socioeconomic injustice and is bound with further socio-spatial inequalities (Bouzarovski & Simcock 2017). As a significant aspect of access to housing, in the urban context energy poverty is closely linked to residential segregation. In Greek cities and especially in Athens a vertical form of segregation has been observed, expressed as social stratification and uneven distribution of living conditions in the vertical axis of the typical multi-storey apartment building (Maloutas and Spyrellis 2016). This paper focuses on the development of energy use patterns and problems within the Greek multi-storey housing stock and explores the interface between energy poverty and vertical residential segregation in Athens. It investigates the level of vertical differentiation of energy poverty in Athens and questions whether this rapidly emerging phenomenon affects the dynamics of vertical stratification. For this purpose, a mixed-method research approach is applied, including 1. the review of the relevant recent literature and 2. the mapping of Greek Census data on the heating use of households per floor of residence in the Municipality of Athens.

The adopted policies and beneficiaries concerning the energy upgrade of the housing stock have been criticized for inconsistencies, sporadic implementation and unequal distribution among the socioeconomic groups. In addition, the measures refer exclusively to individual properties and not to the apartment building scale, although interventions in the entire structure are crucial for the improvement of the residential energy performance. Limitations on heating consumption are largely related to the socioeconomic status of the households, but also depend on the energy efficiency of the common building envelope and the shared facilities within it. The fragmented handling of the typical apartment building in view of the increasing energy deprivation seems to further deepen the existing social inequalities. The mapped results indicate a general trend of hierarchical vertical differentiation of the access to heating in central Athens that varies between the city neighborhoods. In sum, the paper stresses the importance of tackling domestic energy deprivation in the entire apartment building in order to avoid the intensification of the existing vertical segregation and the emergence of new socio-spatial inequality forms.