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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]

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]

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]