Development patterns and urban centers in Greek regional planning after 2000

Abstract

In the beginning of the new millennium an intensifying tendency regarding the exploitation of the growth pole strategy is observed in Greek regional and spatial development policy. This development model aims fundamentally to the intensification of competitiveness and extraversion of the cities, as well as to the territorial cohesion of the whole country, in parallel of course with the implementation of the integrated – local development strategy that faces, with an effective way, the intra-urban inequalities and the problems of urban spatial cohesion.

Consequently, through the recent basic programming texts for the periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013, the growth poles strategy has once again been exploited as part of the general development programming. Within this framework, the present paper attempts initially to describe the new growth poles strategy through the aforementioned programming texts, and then to present the ensuing problems, as well as to outline the emerging capabilities and potential of planning regarding the growth poles strategy in combination with the integrated - local development strategy in Greece. For the needs of the research the theoretical background along with the relevant policies application in the national and international context are considered.