Article of the President of our Association, Dimitri Vayanos, in Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday 20 August about spatial planning in tourist areas of Greece.
The government has rightly set as a priority to carry out spatial planning studies for these areas, because pressures arising from real-estate development are strong. The way the process is being implemented, however, is problematic. The goal seems to be to facilitate large-scale tourist developments, and not to ensure the long-run sustainability of these areas. Protecting the natural environment and the landscapes that have made these areas famous has become a lesser consideration. Ios provides a textbook example of all this.
