RESIDENTIAL LAND DEVELOPMENT AND URBAN POLICY IN GREECE THE CASE OF GREATER THESSALONIKI ATHINA YIANNAKOU A Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics University of London April 1993 UMI Number: U056071 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U056071 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ' ;*•* 7063 * 2 \0'62623 Srovg yoveCg {.io v pe aydjzrj xai evyvcopoavvr / To my parents with love and gratitude ABSTRACT This thesis surveys the interactions between residential land development and urban policy in Greece, with special reference to the case of Greater Thessaloniki providing an understanding of the contradictions in urban policy during the period 1974-89. The starting point is a speculation that institutional attempts to reform urban policy and planning throughout the period 1974-89 remained largely inactive. We hold that this inefficiency is an outcome of a compound political, economic and institutional process linked to the characteristics of residential land development. Main emphasis is paid on: the role of land policy in determining the modern forms of landownership, the impacts of a widespread small landownership upon the pattern of residential development, and, finally, the way politics and ideology are enmeshed in policies related to the residential development process. From a theoretical standpoint it is argued that the analysis of land development phenomena and the attempts to manage them should the traditional distinctions between the analysis of land development and policy analysis. This interdisciplinary approach should also embrace an understanding of structural influences, whether economic political or institutional, with individual strategies, whether of a specific agent or the final investor in - or consumer of - land. The research is largely based on a historical analysis of state land policy implemented throughout the years 1917 up to contemporary periods. Special emphasis is given to the role of land allocation programmes, which were implemented for the refugee rehabilitation in inter-war years and created a great legacy in land policy. A national account of this policy is provided and the formulation of the first town planning machinery is discussed. The problems and contradictions in urban policy formulation during 1974-89 are examined against the actual institutional practice. A detailed account of state land policy and its repercussions on the structure of urban landed property and the residential development process in Greater Thessaloniki is provided examining more closely the nature and the problems of urban policy and planning in Greater Thessaloniki. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to my supervisor Professor Derek Diamond for his constant encouragement and valuable help at every stage of this long process of writing a thesis. His generous and kind support, his enormous experience, and his discreet supervision were the main impetus for me to complete this thesis. I would like to acknowledge the Greek State Scholarship Foundation, who granted me with a scholarship that made it possible to finance my studies at the London School of Economics. Special thanks are also due to the Central Research Fund of the University of London, the London School of Economics and the Schilitzi Foundation who granted me with financial support at specific stages of the research. I am deeply grateful to Lefteris Tsoulouvis, for his valuable comments and practical help on parts of this work. The resourceful and continuous debate we had over the years on various aspects of Greek urban development and planning has deeply affected my work. Many of the ideas in this research were also influenced by the stimulating discussions with my sister Tasia Yiannakou-Psaltopoulou. Although coming from the different discipline of medicine, her aspects on Greek social problems have affected my way of thinking. Special thanks are also due to my friend Orly Gilat for her comments in parts of the thesis and our brainstorming correspondence on planning. Mark Goodwin and Michael Hebbert were kind to read early drafts and offer valuable comments. During the course of the research there were many officers in various government and local government departments who helped me a lot but it is not possible to refer to them separately. However, I would like to acknowledge the prompt assistance of Spiros Tsovras, architect of the Settlement Department of Thessaloniki, who also initiated me in the complexities of the Greek Planning Law. The writing of this thesis offered me the chance to meet Wendy Hall, who was the first to correct my English in drafts of this work. I am indebted to her for bringing me also closer to a language that is not my mother tongue. I want also to thank Andy Tsoutsoulopoulou for correcting a few parts. My friend Maria Panteki TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES, MAPS, DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES...............................vii ABBREVIATIONS..............................................................................................xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: SETTING OUT THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS.......... 1 1.1. The scene of the study: Setting out the research questions ............................ 1 1.2. Conceptual and Methodological Problems ..................................................... 5 1.3. Theoretical approaches to the study: a brief discussion .................................. 8 1.3.1. Residential land development and public policy: ^ i nLi n ^ the traditional distinctions .................................................................8 1.3.2. Greek literature: Contributions and omissions ....................................................11 1.4. Structure of the thesis.......................................................................................14 1.5. Notes for chapter 1 ...........................................................................................16 CHAPTER 2 STATE INTERVENTION IN LAND ALLOCATION AND THE ROLE OF THE HOUSING SECTOR: A NATIONAL ACCOUNT...................................20 2.1. The consolidation of a system of small land-holding in the inter-war years... 21 2.1.1. The land question before the Agrarian Reform ............................................................21 2.1.2. The Rise of Middle Classes and the 1917 Agrarian Reform .........................................23 2.1.3. The Refugee Rehabilitation Programme: establishing new relations over land ............................................................................ 25 2.2. The first town planning legislation ...................................................................30 2.2.1. Attitudes on town planning before the 1923 Act ................................................. 32 2.2.2. The 1923 Town Planning Act .......................................................................... 34 2.2.3. Town Planning legislation: problems and contradictions ......................................36 2.2.4. The 1929 Property Law..................................................................................38 2.3. Post-war housing development ........................................................................ 40 2.3.1. The growth and decline of the housing sector ................................................... 41 2.3.2. The role of the housing sector and its links to the family economy .........................44 2.3.3. Forms of housing development ....................................................................... 47 2.4. Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................51 2.5. Notes for chapter 2 .......................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 3 INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO LAND DEVELOPMENT: PROBLEMS AND CONTRADICTIONS OF A PLANNING REFORM.............................. 58 3.1. Urban land allocation: Protective versus legitimisation policies ................. 59 3.1.1. Protection of agricultural land and public landed property .................................. 60 3.1.2. Policies on unauthorised housebuilding ............................................................ 63 3.1.3. Inner-city development and residential policy .................................................... 69 3.2.1974-81: Institutional changes and their limitations ....................................... 72 3.2.1. The Decrees on "Active Planning" and on "Master Plans" .................................... 73 3.2.2.1974-79: a widely disputed institutional modernisation ....................................... 75 3.2.3.1979-81: The introduction and suspension of a Planning Act ..............................