An Environmental and Growth Management Plan for the Greek Island of Santorini
Santorini is a small but incredibly beautiful island in the center of the Aegean Sea, half way between the mainland of Greece and the island of Crete on the south. It is one of the early cradles of ancient Greek civilization, and on the rocks of the top of its highest mountain one can still see today the first attempts at an alphabet, as the symbols of early writing have been permanently inscribed on the faces of large rocks. During the Minoan times, Thyra or Strongyli, was a thriving commercial and cultural center, with strong ties to many islands of the region. But it was also containing within its heart the seeds of its destruction. The active volcano that constituted the core of the island, deep underwater in a caldera enclosed by steep slopes where the ancient towns and villages were located and where farming was practiced, eventually came to life in a tremendous explosion that not only destroyed the island but had environmental and climate implications for the entire globe for many years afterwards.
Over time, the island was re-inhabited, and its people made their living by adapting to the conditions of an ecology with no surface water, little rainfall, strong winds, high temperatures, a volcanic soil, and soft rock formations. Its villages were formed inside steep valleys, and their homes were formed by digging caves into the soft volcanic rock. These troglodytic rural complexes gave rise to spectacular vernacular architecture, while its agricultural practices exhibited an amazing ability to adapt to, and survive in the extremely adverse living conditions of the island. All these cultural characteristics, along with the spectacular landscapes and views, have in the past fifty years made Santorini one of the hottest and most desirable tourist destinations in the world.
But the demands created by tourism, while producing a thriving economy and much prosperity, have also had many negative environmental and cultural repercussions. The island is being overwhelmed by thousands of visitors daily, traffic in its roads is uncontrollable, the amount of garbage generated daily is unmanageable, and the cultural integrity and natural beauty of the island are under serious threat. To address these issues and prevent destructive growth trends from setting in, the municipal administration of the Thyra municipality invited the University of Cincinnati Sustainable Development Group to conduct a study of growth management, tourism planning and development, and preservation and conservation of the natural and cultural resources and landscapes of the island. Our student-faculty teams conducted the field research and analysis of the planning issues in the summer of 2004, and completed the development management plan for Santorini in the summer of 2005. Two years later a third University of Cincinnati student-faculty team conducted an exhaustive study and produced a preservation and development plan for the remote island of Thyrasia, one of the five islands of the Santorini island complex, at the invitation of the administration of the municipality of Oia.
If you are interested in more information on any of these projects and plans, please click on the links below.
santorini_nalysis_exec_summary_2004.pdf | |
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