An attempt to restore urban order in, perhaps, the most touristic area of ​​the country, Mykonos, has been attempted recently, a fact that certainly does not leave indifferent the conflicting interests based on the beautiful island. Urban intervention is very difficult in an area that has already been repeatedly disturbed in terms of construction and high land costs, especially at certain points of tourist intensity or promising development.

On August 8, 2022, he was signed Hellenic Technical Chamber contract for the preparation of a Special Urban Plan (STP) for Mykonos. A similar contract was signed with Santorini. TEE operates an urban planning program on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment, which is funded by the Recovery Fund. In fact, both contracts (for Mykonos and Santorini) were awarded by the same research team within the Samaras & Associates S.A. office.

Two days later, 10 August 2022, Deputy Minister of the Environment Nikos Tagaras extended for another year the suspension of construction in unplanned areas, especially for tourist sites. A construction moratorium, apparently to stop mass cementing, began in August 2020, so it will be three years by this summer. This is a measure that has supporters, but there is no shortage of those who are, who react.

Ministry of the Environment he is obliged to act quickly in a case which is not easy. In the spirit of speed, the Department of the Interior chose to draw up specific, rather than local, urban planning plans. In the case of the Special Urban Plan, the total available time is 14 months compared to 2.5 years for the Local Urban Plan. Of course, the “net time” for scientists is estimated at less than six months, the time period is considered extremely short as the amount of data needs to be collected.

Another major problem in the development of the plan is the lack of direction from the state, as the “higher” levels of territorial planning have either been canceled or are under revision. How and in what direction will they offer solutions to serious urban and environmental problems of the island? The tourist zoning plan has been canceled (a new one is being prepared), while the South Aegean regional zoning plan is under consideration, with the main problem being the conditions for RES deployment. Who will decide in which direction the islands should move? Is unscheduled construction or installation of other major tourist facilities allowed and to what extent? These issues are regulated by the state, not scientists.

An obstacle to the preparation of the Special Urban Development Plan is the lack of directions from the state.

Load bearing capacity

An accompanying very serious issue is the issue of the carrying capacity of the islands, in general, how many people and especially how many tourists they can “lift” without harm to the environment and quality of life.

Of particular importance is the intervention of the Council of State, which for many years has emphasized the need to calculate the bearing capacity. In fact, especially for the islands and the Cyclades, the CE indicates the need to calculate the carrying capacity taking into account the protection not only of their sensitive environment, but also of the built environment and the island landscape.

In fact, at the end of 2021, the highest administrative court suspended large investments in a tourist unit in Mykonos (and, accordingly, in Io), noting the need for the spatial organization of the islands so that decisions are not made exclusively and “a la carte”, without calculating the bearing capacity of the islands . And indeed, not with general references, but with clear criteria and legally enshrined. It is worth noting that the investment halted by the Council of Europe continued with the Mykonos Strategic Investment Facility with the Special Spatial Development Plan (ESHASE), which overcame all obstacles in previous years, not always for the better.

In fact, the so-called strategic investments were excluded from the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to suspend construction, as a result of which it provoked a reaction from the municipality of Mykonos, which speaks of injustice at the expense of others. categories. The Municipality of Mykonos has recently asked the Council of Ministers to block strategic investments until a PES is drawn up.

In previous years, in an attempt to bring some order to the urban jungle of Mykonos, the Ministry of the Environment announced various measures, such as identifying illegally issued building permits or buildings with major urban planning violations. In the summer of 2020, there was talk of a combination of satellite photos, on-site autopsies by private building inspectors, and complaints that would lead to arbitrary demolition. To what extent they are progressing, and especially why they are not progressing, all this perhaps explains the intensity of the interests that are developing on the island of Mykonos.