Conference

                       Reviving Famagusta; From Ghost Town to Eco-city?

Date	Friday, 21 February 2014
Venue	Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE
Time	14.00-18.45
Chairs	Professor  Kevin Featherstone, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies & Professor of European Politics; Director, Hellenic Observatory, LSE Dr Rebecca Bryant,   A.N. Hadjiyiannis Senior Research Fellow, Hellenic Observatory, LSE

A half-day conference organised by the Hellenic Observatory and Contemporary Turkish Studies, LSE

Foreword

On 21 February 2014 the Hellenic Observatory attracted much local interest in its half-day conference, ‘Reviving Famagusta: From Ghost Town to Eco-City?’ There was an overflow crowd eager to learn about recent projects and plans for the future of the ghost town of Varosha and the entire Famagusta area. With the island’s division in 1974, approximately 35,000 Greek Cypriots fled from the Famagusta area, and the town of Varosha was surrounded by barbed wire and occupied by Turkish troops. Recently, however, Turkish Cypriots living in Famagusta have joined with displaced Greek Cypriots to demand the opening of Varosha under UN supervision, the return of property to its legal owners, the opening of Famagusta port under EU supervision, and the listing of the walled city as a UNESCO heritage site. Moreover, numerous bi-communal projects have begun to plan for the revival of the city. The conference brought together Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots involved in these initiatives with academics working on eco-cities and divided cities to discuss how we might imagine a reunited and revitalised Famagusta.

Dr Rebecca Bryant,   A.N. Hadjiyiannis Senior Research Fellow, Hellenic Observatory

Session 1: Envisioning the Future

George C. Lordos, Economist and Businessman; Member of the Famagusta Initiative and the Famagusta Eco-city Project

Symeon Matsis, Economist; Member of the Famagusta Initiative 

Glafkos Constantinides, Sociologist, Economist and Urban Planner, MRTPI

Layık Topcan Mesutoğlu, Town Planner   

Robert Cowley, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, Westminster University

Panel 1 during the Q&A session

Audience during the Q&A session

Session 2: Planning for a Bi-Communal Famagusta

Dr Ceren Boğaç, Assistant Professor, Eastern Mediterranean University; Architect; Environmental Psychologist; Famagusta Ecocity Project

Mustafa Öngün, PhD Candidate, Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP), London Metropolitan University

Nektarios Christodoulou, University of Cyprus PhD Grant Holder

Dr Wendy Pullan, Head of Research and Director, Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge

 Audience during the Q&A session

Closing Remarks and Q&A session