The regulation of countryside in Greece

from Presidential Decree of 23rd October 1928 to L. 2508/97

Abstract

It is generally accepted that countryside in Greece reveals significant problems concerning land use definition, resulting in socioeconomic and environmental pressure mostly in peri-urban and coastal rural areas. The basic question is whether and up to which degree the countryside in Greece constituted a central object of regulatory planning. In particular, this paper investigates the institutional tools of regulation and their development until the completion of the application of L. 2508/97. At first, it refers to the outside-of-city plan development tool which consists of the oldest and at the same time diachronic tool for the development of the countryside, resulting in incompatible land uses and low quality of countryside. Then, it briefly refers to the tool of the Urban Control Zones –peri-urban and protection– which set limitations to the permissible land uses and building, aiming at the prevention of countryside ’s worsening because of residential and other developmental pressure. Finally, the paper focuses on the General Urban Plans of L. 2508/97. These consist of the first integrated land use plans which aim at the comprehensive planning of urban, peri-urban and rural areas of the whole Municipality. These determine the environmental and residential zones as well as the zones which host a combination of activities, beyond the rural, and define the land uses. In order to examine whether and up to what extent there was an integrated planning approach of countryside aiming at sustainable development, empirical research is accomplished for the regulation of countryside, in its two basic categories, the Areas of Specific Protection and the Areas of Control and Restriction of Development in the approved General Urban Plans of L. 2508/97, during the time period 1997-2018. The findings of the research demonstrate that the target of sustainable development was not fully achieved, and the regulation of the countryside was limited. However, the countryside’s planning based on L. 2508/97 was a significant experience that can contribute to a more integrated and effective planning leveraging the new Land Use Plans of L. 4759/20.