PLANNING SETTLEMENTS IN THE GREEK ISLANDS

Despina P. DIMELLI

Abstract
The reason for the current paper was the concern about the way spatial planning confronts the settlements in Greece. As spatial policies mainly focus in the urban centers and the problems that these present, the question that was placed was how planning of all spatial levels faces the settlements, which assemble an important percentage of population and also face problems as abandonment, accessibility difficulties, and many others. The current paper attempts initially a recording of the spatial, demographic and productive characteristics of the Islander Greek settlements. In the second phase it examines the tools for the Greek islander settlements Regional and Urban Planning with the use of case studies, in order to evaluate planning’s ability to solve the problems these areas face. Through the research it is concluded the need for the creation of a “Settlements observatory” that will record all natural and anthropogenic characteristics which can lead to the formulation of specialized policies, adjusted on the settlements dynamics and the trends of their future development. The paper concludes that a specialized approach based on the use of specialized indicators is necessary; in order to plan areal units that require specified policies.
Keywords: islander settlements, spatial planning, Greek settlements
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