Updated: Jul 6
From 10–13 June 2026, we presented the latest developments of our research conducted during WP2, "Mapping the Territory: Data Collection around the Architectures of Food Production and Their Spatial Arrangement at the Regional Scale," at the EURAU 2026 – 12th Symposium, LATITUDES: Situated Reflections on Architectural Research, hosted by the Umeå School of Architecture in Sweden. The paper was presented in the session "Practicing the Commons: Resilience, Production, and Civic Space," chaired by Alejandro Haiek Coll and Hocine Aliouane-Shaw, where we discussed the ongoing evolution of our research and its contribution to understanding the spatial organization of food production landscapes at the regional scale.
In the presentation, we focused on how Aararian landscapes have undergone rapid and profound transformations over the past century, driven by the emergence of modern nation-states, the expansion of global markets, technological innovation, and agricultural policies aimed at increasing productivity. These processes reshaped traditional rural environments, accelerated the urbanization of the countryside, and significantly altered the balance between human activities and natural ecosystems. As a result, many agricultural regions now face growing challenges related to climate change, economic instability, migration, and resource scarcity, all of which threaten local communities and the resilience of the built and natural environment.
Inside this framework, we used the Thessalian Plain in central Greece as a representative case for examining these long-term transformations. As one of the country's most important agricultural regions, it has experienced extensive agrarian reforms since the 1930s, particularly after the Second World War. These reforms included land redistribution, major infrastructure projects such as roads, canals, dams, and drainage works, land reclamation, and the expansion or creation of settlements to support agricultural development. While these interventions increased productivity, they also transformed the landscape and altered natural hydrological systems. The devastating floods of 2023 highlighted the environmental vulnerabilities created by these changes and emphasized the need for more sustainable approaches to territorial planning.
Finally, we presented the historical evolution of the Thessalian Plain through GIS-based landscape analysis that we are conducting during WP2 ("Mapping the territory: data collection around the architectures of food production and their spatial arrangement at the regional scale"). By integrating historical maps, cadastral records, aerial photographs, and contemporary spatial data, the research reconstructs the changing relationships between natural and human-made elements over time. Six study areas located along major water infrastructures are examined to understand how settlements, agricultural land use, transport networks, rivers, canals, and geomorphological conditions have evolved. The spatial overlap of these datasets reveals patterns of human settlement, agricultural organization, and environmental change while identifying areas particularly vulnerable to flooding. The resulting visual analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of the complex interactions between landscape transformation, ecological processes, and social development, offering a valuable foundation for future strategies aimed at creating a more resilient and sustainable agricultural territory.
See the conference's proceedings here:
Nobile, M. L. (ed.). LATITUDES. Situated Reflections on Architectural Research. Umeå: Umeå University, 2026. ISBN 978-91-6850-075-1.
