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This paper investigates the policy context of spatial injustice in Greece. Given the polarized nature of the economy and the centralized structure of the public sector, the paper examines whether place-based policies that attempt to strengthen the local level and mobilize local assets would be better opt to deliver a fair and equitable distribution of socially valued resources and opportunities in space. In this context, the paper presents and discusses the findings of four case studies and four policy-driven actions related to the design and implementation of a post-lignite local strategy, the establishment of a credible innovation strategy in a metropolitan area, the development of social economy in a lagging region and the upscaling of local government in a medium-sized city. The case studies investigate the conditioning factors that encourage or obstruct the local level to implement effective place-based policies that can contribute to spatial justice. On this basis, the paper evaluates the capability of the current policy and institutional setting to generate spatial justice and provides policy recommendations that will empower the local level in confronting socio-economic challenges and unbalanced spatial growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the perceptions of domestic and foreign entrepreneurs (businesspeople and/or managers) operating in Greece towards the spatial diffusion of FDI effects caused by the privatization programme implemented by the Greek government after an economic crisis. In particular, it investigates whether attracting foreign direct investors through the ongoing privatization programme could be a policy tool for the country's recovery from the prolonged 2008 global economic crisis. To that end, it presents the results of a multinomial logistic regression model based on survey data from a significant sample of domestic and foreign investors in Greece. The key finding of this study suggests that the positive effects of FDI on the recovery of Greece from the economic crisis are more likely to benefit the country's economy as a whole than only the local economy in which the FDI is located. This finding is stronger for entrepreneurs who are (moderately) optimistic about the role of the privatization programme in attracting the interest of foreign investors than others. Overall, there is evidence that FDI attraction policies can help all Greek regions to recover from an economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the challenges posed by the early discourse of the creative city in the case of Patras, a regional city of Greece and European Capital of Culture in 2006 before the prolonged economic crisis in Greece. We focus on the relevance and the forms of cultural creation and artistic networking for the creative city rather than on innovation hubs and technological creativity. We develop a qualitative study of culture creatives in the city to examine the potential of local cultural and artistic agents, social groups and institutions to enhance networking and clustering in the urban milieu, which is also influenced or distorted by city planning capacities and politics. The culture management study identifies several constraints and frictions related to the potential transformation of cultural networks to clusters and analyzes the relevance of cultural lag in the literature of creative cities and urban regeneration. The constraints are discussed within a framework of cultural and institutional lag, which characterize city stakeholders. The study identifies practices that enable organizational facilitation and capacity for proactive culture creation, creative networking and potential clustering. Those activities support culture-led socio-economic urban regeneration planning and inspire the potential making of a creative city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to reveal the opportunities that could arise from the revival of abandoned settlements rich in architecturally interesting buildings in the rural renaissance context. Concepts such as settlement abandonment, land abandonment, back to land movement, and rural renaissance are behind the need for the rural settlements' renaissance and are analyzed briefly herein. The paper focuses on the municipality of Prespes in Greece, a natural habitat with plenty of abandoned or declining settlements. The outstanding landscape, the deserted buildings that still have architectural interest and the area's rurality provide an interdisciplinary frame for looking into the renaissance of abandoned rural settlements from a new perspective. Area censuses reveal abandoned, sparsely populated or declining settlements, which could follow specially designed action plans for their revitalization; the land cover also indicates development opportunities for each settlement. Finally, the paper outlines proposals for the revitalization and sustainable development of the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seaplanes as a transport mode provide the flexibility of using land and water infrastructure for their operations. This functionality presents an opportunity for regions with water surfaces, especially when the sea and air connectivity are the only options. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of seaplanes' potential as a mode of transport in Greece. After reviewing the topics of air connectivity, remote regions and the coexistence of modes of transport, a survey is designed to collect information on the perspectives of potential users in the Greek region. In total 200 replies of residents and non-residents of the country are collected and reflect a social perspective of seaplane operations. It is found that the main aspects that would motivate passengers to choose seaplanes would be the offered trip duration, the ticket price and the trip convenience. The collected information is used for the elaboration of SWOT analyses that assess seaplane operations at a strategic decision-making level in transport planning and technology management. The analysis concludes that the potential of seaplanes as a transport mode lies on the enhancement of sustainable transport, the connectivity of isolated regions and their economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developed essentially in the context of American cities, the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) model has also occupied the literature regarding European cities, especially those with long developed urban rail systems. This paper provides a critical overview of the TOD model regarding three main topics: key features and typologies; benefits, drawbacks and implementation challenges; and readiness criteria. It then proceeds to an investigation of the potential for implementing the TOD model in the context of Southern European cities, traditionally considered to fall into typical compact forms of development, many of which also lack integrated urban and transport planning. Based on the case of Thessaloniki, Greece, which introduces urban rail by constructing a metro system, a typology is proposed, adapted to the case of a dense and mixed-use city, and two pilot TOD plans are presented. The paper highlights that an integrated urban and transport planning based on a modification of the TOD model could be implemented in Southern European cities, taking advantage of their compact and mixed-use features but also constraining the relatively recent phenomenon of suburban dispersion. Nevertheless, overcoming the multiple institutional and financing barriers is necessary to guarantee a successful transfer and adaptation of the TOD model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues the changing nature of spatial planning in the recent decades, under the light of the relevant progressions that have been taking place at the EU level. It is suggested that the EU territorial cohesion discourse and its relevant -although less developed- policy tools are in line with and promote a new orientation of spatial planning that is characterized of an integrated approach which is spatially aware and aims to guide development in order to avoid or minimize spatial imbalances and to increase the effectiveness of policies according to the territorial characteristics. This is an attempt to bring into light the new dimensions of spatial planning through the analysis of the relevant European concepts. In the first part, the developments at the EU level and their contribution to this new approach of planning are analysed. Following that, what is examined is how these developments and the EU territorial cohesion perspective influenced the Greek planning system and, more specifically, how the new traits of planning have been integrated and the degree to which the new approach is reflected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sheds light on the debate on regional resilience to crisis in Greece, a country long suffering from insufficient planning mechanisms and recently hit by a severe economic crisis. In the paper, we discuss the spatialities of employment flexibilization vis-à-vis the devaluation of regional productive structures between 2005 and 2016. The paper critically builds on previous accounts of regional resilience, but also seeks to develop the concept through engaging in: (i) how different employment patterns, namely part-time work, present a powerful adaptive mechanism that is related to path-dependent regional production profiles; and (ii) why regions with less favourable pre-crisis production structures and anaemic growth seem to have been less affected by recession and may witness a faster recovery in its aftermath. The paper adopts a multi-layered methodology, using a variety of measures, offering an empirically grounded theorization of contemporary labour market changes within the Southern EU. The results indicate some key reasons for radically reformulating established regulatory and planning practices in order to promote a pattern of resilience that is more friendly to good and well-paid jobs. A prerequisite for the latter is the promotion of territorially cohesive strategies that reduce regional disparities and harness 'unregulated flexibilization'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper maps the visual impact of mining activities on terrestrial and marine landscapes of the Cyclades islands, Greece, an island complex in the Aegean Sea of particular natural and cultural heritage. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mining activities developed on the islands, many of which are abandoned today. Some of the remaining inactive mines and accompanying structures have been registered as monuments and part of the national industrial heritage. The remaining active mining units conflict for land with the main economic activity today, tourism. The visual impact of the mining units is calculated and mapped, resulting in viewshed analysis which quantifies the impact of mining units on terrestrial and marine landscapes, with emphasis on nominated traditional settlements and mention of non-traditional ones. The quantitative results have shown that the landscape study needs to be incorporated in terrestrial and marine spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unregulated built-up area expansion is a typical practice in Greece mostly on the islands, it is driven by the mass tourism development and the demand for second houses. Significant social, economic and environmental issues are linked to this practice. Santorini, a Greek island – which is characterized by important natural and cultural heritage properties and intense tourist development – is chosen here for the empirical part of the study. This paper attempts to study and quantify both the unregulated built-up area expansion and its impact on the natural and cultural environment. The intense ex-urban built-up area expansion that takes place on Santorini is interpreted on the basis of the Greek spatial planning framework so that its weaknesses that emerge will address the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the water supply conditions in the major Greek cities have been investigated and a comprehensive description is provided. It has occurred that the choice of the catchment area as the administrative unit for water management purposes is rather more adapted to urban water management in Western Europe, than in Greece. In fact, while the major cities in France, Spain and the UK can be mainly supplied by water issued from the catchment area in which they are located, interbasin water transfer is necessary in Greece. The reasons are both hydrological, with the typical catchment area size in Greece being rather small, and because the economic activities of the Greek cities are not linked to rivers; so only a few of them are built on large watersheds. The reduction of water losses due to network leakage is suggested as a method for the decrease of interbasin transfer volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, economic resilience has become a popular term in both theory and policy practice. This interest was triggered by the fact that some regional economies were extremely vulnerable, while others have managed to overcome, more or less effectively, the worse consequences of the current economic crisis. Within this context, questions arise regarding the role that policies at both the national and subnational levels can play in shaping regional economic resilience. Although high in the academic and political agenda, understanding the policy and governance aspects of resilience still remains a relatively underdeveloped area. The paper contributes to this debate focusing on an area which has been most severely hit by crises, the Region of West Macedonia, in Greece. The case study builds on the historical trajectory of the region in order to explain how different types of policies have influenced the ability of West Macedonia to respond to economic slumps and crises of the last 30 years. Evidence suggests that national protectionist policies largely explain not only resilience of the region against previous crises, but also its vulnerability towards the still ongoing economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-cyclical and high-leverage infrastructure projects, such as road transportation networks, have been considered as critical policy instruments to promote growth and social development. Yet, their growth-generating effect on the economic welfare of countries and regions has come under scrutiny in recent years: several studies have nuanced the implicit positive associations between investments in transportation and economic benefits. Building upon a set of traffic flow characteristics as potential correlates to the regional development indicator, this research focuses on the economic impacts of Egnatia Odos Motorway (EOM) on Greece's Northern region. To specify, by employing a large-scale longitudinal dataset which includes over 230 million entry records of various vehicle types along EOM, generated from toll collection systems between 2010 and 2019, we investigate the associations between traffic data and potential variations in regional GDP per capita annual growth rate. Our results suggest positive associations between regional economic development and the EOM operation and, more specifically, with passengers' transportation and inland freight. We conclude that transportation big data provide essential input for the appraisal of a road transport investment project, reveal the status of regional welfare, and may contain valuable information for spatial management and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]