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Urbanisation, crisis and urban policy in Greece

Περιλήψεις συνεδρίου

• Χατζημιχάλης, Κωστής
• Χαστάογλου, Βίλμα
• Καλογήρου, Νίκος
• Παπαμίχος, Νίκος

The post-war pattern of urbanisation which was mainly characterized by a growing dynamism of one or two metropolitan areas, by expansion of the building sector and by• low levels of urban unemployment, seems to undergo radical changes since the late 1970' s. These changes are dialectically related with the wider restructuring of the greek economy marked in its spatial context by productive decentralisation tendencies towards intermediate regions. The paper focuses on certain economic, political and cultural factors influencing these changes, as well as on certain "limits" to urban growth generated by urban diseconomies and changes in urban labour markets. For different reasons these patterns were not adequately grasped by urban planners. As a result, proposed policies and urban planning projects have been either abandoned before implementation, or they have have been reduced to simple ad-hoc policies. To show this, the paper analyses first the period of ND rule and its attempts for "modernisation" through the controversial Law 947/1974 and its national settlement policy based on the growth center doctrine. In 1982, PASOK drafted a new Law (1238/82) which was largely on the 947 logic; it has started a massive attempt for planning ofall major greek cities; and it has declared an ambitious national settlement policy focusing on all small and medium-size rural towns. The paper criticaly evaluates these policies and describes new forms of decision making and new relations between central state, local community and political parties.

• Sociology

• Κοινωνικές επιστήμες

Περιλήψεις των παρουσιάσεων στο συνέδριο της ΛέσβουAbstracts of papers presented at the Lesvos conference