Alexis Kalagas was born in Sydney, Kalagas is a writer and urban strategist currently based in Zürich, Switzerland. Most recently, he spent four years at the interdisciplinary design practice Urban-Think Tank, working on a range of research, design, exhibition, and media projects focused on housing and inclusive urban development in Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, following graduate studies in Geneva and Boston, he was involved in an early stage print and digital media start-up dedicated to in-depth coverage of international affairs and global policy. He began his career in Canberra, Australia, serving as a foreign policy advisor with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Kalagas co-edited the book Reactivate Athens (Ruby Press, 2017), and has guest edited three issues of SLUM Lab magazine. His writing on cities and urban design has appeared in numerous publications, including Architectural Design (AD), Perspecta, trans, Migrant Journal, a+t, the Journal of Visual Culture, and Harvard Design Magazine, as well as the edited volumes CARTHA on Making Heimat (Park Books, 2017) and Re-Living the City: UABB 2015 (Actar, 2016). He has also taught at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich and the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
A decade on from the subprime crisis, Kalagas notes, cities worldwide are again contending with risky housing bubbles. During the fellowship, Kalagas intends to explore how alternative models of affordable housing could be adapted and scaled in places like London that are reckoning with this acute challenge. In particular, Kalagas is interested in whether non-speculative, rental-based developments could succeed in cities shaped by a persistent dream of homeownership, and take root in an overheated property market.
Kalagas co-edited the book Reactivate Athens (Ruby Press, 2017), and has guest edited three issues of SLUM Lab magazine. His writing on cities and urban design has appeared in numerous publications, including Architectural Design (AD), Perspecta, trans, Migrant Journal, a+t, the Journal of Visual Culture, and Harvard Design Magazine, as well as the edited volumes CARTHA on Making Heimat (Park Books, 2017) and Re-Living the City: UABB 2015 (Actar, 2016). He has also taught at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich and the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
A decade on from the subprime crisis, Kalagas notes, cities worldwide are again contending with risky housing bubbles. During the fellowship, Kalagas intends to explore how alternative models of affordable housing could be adapted and scaled in places like London that are reckoning with this acute challenge. In particular, Kalagas is interested in whether non-speculative, rental-based developments could succeed in cities shaped by a persistent dream of homeownership, and take root in an overheated property market.
