Abstract

History and the modern world co-exist in Greece’s landscape. The urban spaces of Greek cities contain structures from ancient history alongside contemporary constructions, but intense urban development from the 1960s onwards, as in the historic center of Athens, has led to imbalances with respect to cultural heritage protection. The 1975 Greek Constitution defined the preservation and protection of the cultural environment as a constitutional mandate, and severe restrictions on the exploitation of private properties deemed to be of historical or architectural importance were imposed. Property owners were deprived of their property development rights (DRs), whereas the preservation and conservation of protected constructions became costly, resulting in abandoned buildings and a downgraded urban environment. As the debate over cultural heritage protection and urban regeneration is more topical than ever, the recent legal reintroduction of the transfer of development rights (TDRs) provides new opportunities for property exploitation with respect to cultural heritage protection legislation. Herein is presented a methodological framework on the classification and 3D visualization and representation of DRs and TDRs in relation to the cultural heritage protective framework and its implementation in a selected area of Athens’ historic center. Legal and technical aspects that affect 3D DRs and TDRs are emphasized as key elements in the successful implementation of the TDR process.

Highlights

  • The broad debate on cultural heritage protection, preservation and promotion, with respect to private property owners’ rights to exploit their properties and preserve their full property development rights (DRs), started in the USA in the late 1960s. This debate was addressed via the transfer of development rights (TDRs)

  • The paradox of retaining DRs in respect of building surfaces but with no remaining DRs in respect of maximum height or number of floors is due to the construction techniques of the late 1800s and early 1900s, where floor height was over four meters

  • The results of the current research demonstrate that the protection and preservation of cultural heritage is directly related to the diversification of private property development rights, their status and overall exploitation

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Summary

Introduction

Given the continuous development and expansion of urban spaces, the protection, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage is an issue of great significance and importance both for the scientific community and the state/local authorities. The broad debate on cultural heritage protection, preservation and promotion, with respect to private property owners’ rights to exploit their properties and preserve their full property development rights (DRs), started in the USA in the late 1960s. This debate was addressed via the transfer of development rights (TDRs). TDR is an innovative and effective process of protecting cultural heritage and preserving private property owners’ rights to benefit from full exploitation of their properties that are under protection as archeological sites, monuments or listed buildings

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