Exploring the dual role of the State in post-crisis project-led planning practice in Greece: over-regulator or enabler?

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of the Greek State in post-crisis special-purpose planning concerning public land redevelopment. It assesses its planning practices and their impact on the planning flexibility. The empirical research focuses on two projects of national importance in railway property and the planning instruments that were established during the planning reform in the aftermath of the fiscal crisis. The findings highlight the dual role of the State as over-regulator and enabler of planning as well as the failure of the planning reform to modernise the State’s planning practice and mitigate domestic weaknesses like overregulation and administrative deficiencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Planning practice
• planning reform
• State
• public land
• Greece

Acknowledgments

I would like to deeply thank the five anonymous referees for their insightful comments on the earlier version of this article, as well as special editors Louis Wassenhoven and Evangelos Asprogerakas. Any errors are entirely my own responsibility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Special Urban Study (Eidiki Poleodomiki Meleti) is a different planning tool from the Special Urban Plan enacted by L.4447/2016. The first was introduced by Art. 6A L.2354/2014 in L.2891.2010 (see also Table 1).

2. The author has knowledge of these data due to her participation in the projects as a planning consultant.

3. THEK SA is 80% owned by ETVA VIPE and 20% by Goldair.

4. It is worth noting that approximately 20 years ago, the Commission had decided to refer Greece to the European Court of Justice over the tendering procedure for a railway project in Thriasio (IP/06/1784, 2006).

5. This expropriation was not initially known because it was not recorded in the cadastral sheets of GAIAOSE property.

6. Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis often publicly showed his personal commitment to the implementation of the Holocaust Museum (through the media, his presence at important national events and visits to the city of Thessaloniki).

7. A Memorandum of Cooperation among GAIAOSE SA, the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Jewish Community was signed so as to exchange land property, as GAIAOSE was not capable of providing extra land property.

8. Legal coverage for this was based on the exchange of public lands of GAIAOSE and the Municipality of Thessaloniki, as the first was converted from building block to common area so as to counterweigh the urban balance.