Author Archives: Ares Kalandides

Places and figures of speech: metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche

by Ares Kalandides This image, which appeared on TIP’s (Berlin city magazine) Facebook page on 29th July 2016, depicts a map of Berlin, where boroughs have been replaced by types of fast food. I find the map very funny, but … Continue reading

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Places don’t have DNAs – living organisms do

by Ares Kalandides I recently came upon a very interesting (and in my opinion also very useful) document, the World Towns Framework, which begins with the following: “We shall support the unique characteristics of each town and urban district, the ‘DNA of place’, … Continue reading

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Communities of exclusion: Some thoughts on the concept of community

by Ares Kalandides A bizarre piece of news caught my attention recently: A Kosovarian family was allegedly denied citizenship in Switzerland, not for failing to comply with the formal requirements, but for not adapting to the local norms. The transgressions … Continue reading

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How public is public space?

by Ares Kalandides A signature list is being passed around in my Berlin neighbourhood around Kollwitzplatz in Prenzlauer Berg. We’re asked to sign against the regulations by the local borough of Pankow on how to use public space. Cafés and … Continue reading

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Naples: The anti-tourist city

by Ares Kalandides I’m not often a tourist – a real tourist I mean. I usually travel to places for work or in order to meet friends. But last week I visited Naples in Italy for the third time in … Continue reading

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The intangible value of Piraeus

Why COSCO wants all of Piraeus, not only the containers By Costis Hadjimichalis[1] What exactly did the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF)[2] and the Greek government sell to COSCO at the shockingly low amount of 280.5 million Euro at once … Continue reading

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From the “Bridge of Spies” to the Smart City: a Berlin narrative

by Ares Kalandides [1] Reading the multiple stories that have been praising Berlin with its youth culture and creative scene as the rising star among European cities, it is easy to forget how recent this development actually is. The 2015 Spielberg … Continue reading

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ARCHITECTURAL RENDERINGS AND THE RULE OF THE VISUAL

by Alan Grabinsky* An architectural rendering is not a neutral artifact: as an image it always wants something, and its production, distribution and circulation are conditioned by the social context. Renderings that have circulated of the “Cultural Corridor Chapultepec” [Mexico … Continue reading

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Shortage of Skilled Labour in Germany: Does it really exist? (Part 3)

Photo Credit: http://www.sausedo.net by Paul Köper, Tobias Sieblitz and Ares Kalandides Are we really heading towards a major shortage of skilled labour? Is it the demographic change as we are often told? While more and more people retire, there are … Continue reading

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Shortage of Skilled Labour in Germany: Does it really exist? (Part 2)

Photo Credit: http://www.august-faller.de by Paul Köper, Tobias Sieblitz and Ares Kalandides In Part 1 of this blog series we ended by asking the question whether the debate about a shortage of skilled labour in Germany had any substance. Is the phenomenon … Continue reading

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