Critical analysis of the official urban planning standards of public uses

Abstract

The paper attempts to evaluate the urban planning standards that are included in the Greek Government Gazette (No 285/D/3.3.2004) and are used for the planning of the public uses. The paper begins by studying the typology of urban indicators; it clarifies the concept of the urban planning standard, and subsequently determines the methodology for the evaluation of the latter. Such an evaluation is based on the comparison between the Greek standards and the standards of Western countries, such as England, Italy, Germany, the State of California and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Based on this international survey of urban planning standards, the Greek standards were assessed on the accuracy of their value, while a further assessment was developed on their detail and on the ease of use. The study led to the identification of a particularly problematic situation, in which the Greek planning standards are lacking the ability to effectively guide the planning of the public uses.