Thousands of settlements across the country are entering a path of institutional restoration, based on demographic criteria and rural reinforcement, aiming to find a transitional arrangement that will determine the fate of land plots delineated by boundaries set by prefects in villages. This initiative seeks to end years of urban planning uncertainty.

The new regulation, being drafted by the government under the pressure of social and parliamentary demands regarding the demarcation of settlements with fewer than 2,000 residents, is expected in June. It aims to resolve a major pending issue by providing clear guidelines to urban planners for the implementation of spatial planning across the country.

After years of stagnation and legal entanglements, the State is attempting to establish clear rules for defining the boundaries of small and pre-1923 settlements. The regulation directly affects thousands of property owners, with only one outstanding issue—Zone C (the outermost zone of a settlement)—which is already under scrutiny by the government for potential institutional reintegration.

This zone refers to the part of settlements that expanded arbitrarily through decisions by prefects from the mid-1980s onward and has already been deemed illegal by the Council of State due to the lack of scientific criteria during their demarcation. These areas have been ruled unlawful by the highest court, rendering even vacant plots within them unbuildable.

The government’s new framework for these settlements aims not just to be a planning reform, but a crucial tool for protecting small villages, retaining populations in rural areas, and safeguarding property ownership.

The Core Dilemma

Deputy Minister of Environment Nikos Tagaras, speaking to Proto Thema, discussed the broader goals of the settlement demarcation regulation. He emphasized that the initiative goes beyond strict urban and spatial planning criteria, focusing on the need to support rural areas and address demographic challenges.

“You can’t assess settlements based solely on population data. If we only followed population numbers, every time a village shrank, we’d have to shrink its boundaries—essentially erasing the countryside and moving everyone back to Athens,” he said.

A property, even if never developed, still has value—whether to sell, transfer, or utilize. The devaluation of this property represents a social, economic, and developmental issue.

Tagaras described the main dilemma as balancing Article 24 of the Constitution, which protects the environment, with Article 17, which protects property rights. He said the Prime Minister has instructed that all social and planning parameters be examined—not just to preserve existing settlements, but also to support decentralization, encourage young people to return to villages, and attract new residents.

To support this, existing and new urban planning tools will be employed—such as provisions for stagnant, small, or abandoned settlements—and will be submitted to the Council of State to ensure their constitutional soundness.

The Government’s Commitment

The Prime Minister has acknowledged public and local concerns about the impacts of urban restructuring and has emphasized that this will be an institutional intervention that safeguards property, even raising the possibility of revising Article 24 of the Constitution on environmental protection. The Constitution currently requires urban planning before expanding settlement boundaries.

“I understand the concern,” the Prime Minister said, “but the Constitution also guarantees the citizen’s legitimate expectation when they bought a plot believing they could build on it. You can’t just change that retroactively.”

He outlined the regulation’s approach, stating: “I treat a 2,000-person settlement differently from a 300-person village,” and questioned how urban planning could be realistically applied in such small communities.

The government faces the challenge of settlement diversity: from tiny villages of 50 or 100 people to others that empty out in winter and fill up with vacationers in summer. A reliable classification could be based, according to the Ministry of Environment and Energy (ΥΠΕΝ), on demographic data from ELSTAT and utility usage (electricity or water) to reflect actual population size through consumption patterns.

The Problem

The government insists that the upcoming regulation won’t strip citizens of their property but will restore legality. It notes that within two years, the new settlement boundaries will be legally established through Presidential Decrees, following public consultations within Local and Special Urban Plans.

As the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy underlined, “the new Presidential Decree doesn’t redraw boundaries—it introduces the methodology and process for determining them with scientific justification, public consultation, and—most importantly—constitutional ratification by the Council of State.”

The planning effort involves 257 urban studies already underway under the “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program, with €1 billion in funding from the Recovery Fund.

However, the proposed Decree has sparked backlash in local communities, especially over properties located in Zone C, which was included in the original ΥΠΕΝ draft but rejected by the Council of State as unlawful. In contrast, the other zones (A, B, and B1) remain buildable, with minimum plot sizes ranging from 150 sq.m. to 2,000 sq.m.

These zones follow the provisions of the 1981 Decree on settlements pre-dating 1923 and the 1985 Decree on settlements with fewer than 2,000 residents. Both have been fully incorporated into the April Presidential Decree regarding settlements.

Zone C – The Key Obstacle

Zone C remains a major stumbling block, as the Council of State has ruled that undeveloped plots within it are not buildable—unless a new regulation is introduced with robust scientific and institutional justification.

This issue was decided in rulings from 2017 and 2021, leading to urban planning paralysis in 79 settlements in Rethymno over the past eight years and in 67 settlements in Pelion over the past six years due to court decisions.

It is important to note that the Presidential Decree does not affect:

– Settlements with more than 2,000 residents,

– New settlements established after 1983, or

– Coastal settlements under Zoning Control Areas (ZOE) in specific regional units such as Attica, Evia, Corinthia, Thessaloniki, Pieria, and Halkidiki.