Transition movements in cities are broadly emerging worldwide as new forms of alternative citizen-driven practices and socio-political participation addressing the raising awareness of environmental, economic, social, planning and food issues. Resistance initiatives for food and space justice discuss the growing concerns about the achievement of long-term security and resilience of food system especially in crisis contexts, about who has access and power to land or who is marginalized or excluded and how can community-based initiatives build self-reliant systems founded on ecological principles. In Greece, the collapse of the consumption and construction-led growth after the period of economic euphoria and rapid GDP growth in the early 2000's and the consequent financial crisis that unfolded in mid-2008, have radically changed Greek society, politics and the economy. While the current depression and the dramatic humanitarian crisis have shifted politicians’ attention away from the climate and ecology, “transition and recovery movements” work hard to keep the environment on the agenda. In a time when traditional green movements and civil society actors are receding due to depression and uncertainty, alternative social movements related to urban agriculture or guerilla gardening initiatives, access to open/public space, solidarity economy, de-growth or real democracy, progress due to the crisis. In particular, initiatives that deal with issues such as urban poverty, food delocalization and environmental constraints favor the emergence of localised consumer-producer networks and spontaneous civic or pubic initiatives aiming at reintegrating agriculture into the city. In this article we focus on the development of new forms of social movements and solidarity initiatives that we consider to be part of the green ideals and could help the Greek society to get out of depression. We describe those social movements as “transition and recovery movements” for they address social and spatial injustices through new forms of space appropriation and decision-making which can redefine livelihoods in today’s Greek cities, create political space for civil society and build an enabling environment for new forms of democratic practice.