Effectiveness of regional innovation actions: cases from small, low-innovative regions

This paper attempts to identify the suitability of centrally designed innovation-related regional actions, examining the case of regions that started innovative activities from a low development level. Using the case of two Greek regions, the paper analyses the legacy left to the regional systems by a series of regional innovation programmes implemented during the 1990s and 2000s, whose main priorities were designed centrally without any regional consultation. The findings suggest that these programmes often provide the means for generating the first steps towards the creation of a Regional Innovation System; however often they create a dependency on publicly funded programmes

The (master) plans of athens and the challenges of its re-planning in the context of crisis

In the current economic crisis, cities face significant problems and planners strive for solutions. Athens, especially its Centre, faces immense problems both because of the crisis and of a series of local problems that to a great extend are related to its planning historical background. The planning of the Athens area has a long and troublesometradition and has resulted in a very dense and problematic city with uncontrollable, partly unauthorized, sub-urbanization and severe social problems in the Centre. The traditional way planning took place, i.e. physical planning, has been proven to be inadequate to face the rapidly accumulating problems. This crisis has become a trigger for deeperconsideration of the social problems of the city as especially (and spatially) expressed in the Centre. The paper goes through the various historical stages and milestones of the planning of the city progressively focusing on the current problematic, to finally raise the question on the path that the planning of the city should follow in the context of today's challenges ©2013 Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research

Towards and 'integration model' of planning education programmes in a European and international context: The contribution of recent Greek experience

The article investigates planning education programmes and attempts to re-orient them in the context of both an international 'problematique' in reforming planning education, and European Union directives about the creation of a common European space in higher education. First, the article reviews the international trends in changes and challenges in planning and planning education in the 21st century and proposes an 'integration model' of planning education programmes in a European and international context. Second, the article focuses on the development of planning studies in Greece. It presents their history and development as well as the institutional framework in which planning and planning education operate. It then analyses the Greek educational curricula in two ways: (1) a quantitative analysis classifying courses into different thematic areas and thereby, revealing the basic structure of the curricula; and (2) a qualitative analysis based on interviews with academic staff in charge of educational curricula and examining the content of courses, the adopted pedagogies and possible restrictions (e.g. human capital, institutional framework, etc.) in introducing effective planning curricula. Finally, the article proposes guidelines for re-orienting educational curricula in Greek schools of planning and draws out wider implications for planning studies in the wider European and international context. © 2005 Taylor & Francis

Innovation strategies and technology for experience-based tourism

Tourism is undergoing significant change and facing new challenges-that call for new perspectives. At least two dimensions of the change can be identified: -new forms of tourism, characterized by the tendency to depart from mass tourism; -the diffusion of information and communication technologies, with a pervasive effect on the creation, production and consumption of the tourist product. The limited success of most attempts to exploit produced windows of opportunity indicates that we are facing a pre-paradigmatic phase of transition. Innovative attempts gain new strategic value when viewed front a perspective that values experience as an important new attribute. Such a perspective has significant consequences for the growth of destination strategies, policies, and the integration of the information-society dimension. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Production modes, urban-rural relations, and rural transport north pelion vis-à-vis volos,: Greece

The production structure of the rural space in the Volos area is changing, and the archaic pre-capitalist production modes become subordinate to capitalism via various mechanisms. This production articulation reflects at varying degrees in the changing social structure of the three villages investigated in the chapter and their relations with the city of Volos (Greece). These settlements become transitory hybrid spaces, developing still close but novel types of relationships with Volos, especially in the socioeconomic sphere. These changes are already happening and are bound to challenge local transport futures. Under this rationale, the chapter investigates the behavioural patterns of people, emerging during this transitional period, in terms of mobility. On this basis, it develops several proposals of possible realistic ways to face the upcoming challenges. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Elisabetta Vitale Brovarone, Giancarlo Cotella, and Luca Staricco

Regional development and the information society: How Greek regions measure up in the information age?

It is widely accepted that the Information Society (IS) offers great potential in promoting sustainable development, democracy, accountability and good governance. Full exploitation of the new opportunities provided by ICTs should be an important part of any strategy aimed at achieving development goals. Greece is a regional country in the EU and some of the Greek regions are amongst the least developed within the Union. Therefore, the importance of the Information Society, with regard to regional development in Greece, becomes greater as it provides an opportunity for Greek regions to catch up. The aim of this chapter is to identify the main trends and problems of the Information Society in Greek regions, evaluate regional strategies and measures and discover threats and opportunities for the future development of Greek regions. As the development of IS seems to be a key point in the success of regional development policies, the importance of careful and appropriate planning becomes imperative. As available data shows, the development of the Information Society in Greek regions does not seem to follow a specific pattern. With the exception of the region of Attiki, there are no regions that systematically perform better or worse. An attempt to discover correlations with non-IS indicators (such as economic, employment or R&D indicators), shows that no such correlations exist. Until recently, regions in Greece did not have separate strategies regarding IS development. However, since 2002, each region has been given funding to develop its own Operational Plan for the Information Society. These Regional Operational Plans, which provided the means for all Regional Administrations to determine region-specific goals and aims for the development of the Information Society at the regional level, form a basis for a comparative analysis of the Greek regions

Mega transport projects and sustainable development: lessons from a multi case study evaluation of international practice

Mega infrastructure investments currently feature as significant aspects in many of the development agendas worldwide. Such projects are often deemed ‘unsuccessful’ because they have been unable to meet their original expectations in terms of outturn cost, on-time delivery and construction quality. This paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning broader definitions of project success by presenting the findings from an evaluation of 27 mega transport projects drawn from nine countries with respect to their achievements towards multiple dimensions and challenges of sustainable development (SD). The study found the projects exhibited a generally low adherence to SD principles and the lack of shared vision of what SD means threatens to undermine the potential for mega infrastructure to contribute positively to its delivery. The absence of clarity and consensus poses a number of critical challenges for mega infrastructure planning, including questions about whether they can effectively meet the needs of intra and inter-generational equity (and socio-economic equity), as well as global concerns about such matters as emissions, fuel scarcity and climate change