Restructuring local-level spatial planning in Greece amid the recession and recovery period: trends and challenges

ABSTRACT

The paper examines the restructuring of local-level spatial planning in Greece during and after the crisis period. It analyses the reform paths that were developed and assesses the directions of change concerning the scope of planning, the actors and the practices. The paper concludes that the orientation has turned towards special-purpose planning, the privatisation of planning powers, and the transfer of planning power to the central state. However, despite these shifts, the domestic local-level planning maintains its long trends, such as clientelism and conformative approach, making the trajectory of planning unpredictable.

KEYWORDS:

• Spatial planning
• local-level
• planning instruments
• post-crisis era
• Greece

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the two anonymous referees for their constructive and detailed comments. I would also like to deeply thank Professor Georgia Giannakourou, who acted as a sounding board and provided insightful guidelines for the restructuring of the paper, in full accordance with the reviewers’ suggestions. Any errors are entirely my own responsibility.

Disclosure Statement

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

Notes

1. These include the national spatial planning framework and the special spatial planning frameworks (mainly for industry, tourism and renewable resources) with reference to the level of the whole country and the regional spatial planning frameworks concerning the area of a Region.

2. It concerns the political transition to a democratic regime, shortly after the fall of the military junta (1967–74) and the 1974 legislative elections.

3. Article 119, L 4819/2021.