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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]