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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]

Traditional settlements constitute part of the cultural heritage and their preservation is an important priority, acknowledged in the present study as a multidisciplinary, multi-scale and complex issue. This study quantifies the visual impact of traditional settlements in Cyclades that arise from structures which are considered to create pressure on the island landscape and negative visual impact. These structures disrupt the landscape continuity; they are both incongruous with the dominant local scale and incompatible with the forms and shapes that are appropriate on the Cyclades islands. This paper examines these issues in the context of the management of insular traditional settlements within the Greek spatial planning framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to quantify the visual impact that certain infrastructures and buildings have on Sifnos island, a small island located in the southwestern Cyclades. Quantification of the visual effects is based on the viewshed analysis through GIS. The main element of the visibility computation method, as adopted here, is the identification of those infrastructures and buildings that are considered actors with a 'negative' impact on the landscape. The analysis demonstrates that zones with varying impact on landscape can be identified. Investments with 'negative' impact on the landscape should be directed towards areas of restricted visibility, thus minimising landscape degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]