Urban Environmental Planning in Greek Cities - The response of medium sized Greek cities, the case of Volos

The city is a vital sum of functions, of human actions, of resources and of a built and physical environment. The sustainability of cities is relatively a new area of interest, especially for the Greek cities. Only in the last decade was sustainability introduced to the Greek planning process. Unfortunately, the Greek cities do not follow the Local Agenda 21, an instrument that is trying to promote sustainability issues for the built environment. The city of Volos in Greece seems to be more sensitive in the environmental and sustainable development issues than other Greek cities due to its proximity to vital natural resources and to a unique position between sea and mountain. Further more Volos is one of the few medium sized cities in Greece that have a local agenda 21 and numerous Life and EMAS smaller more focused projects. Even if the city of Volos is not the leader city in the cases of sustainability nevertheless the city has undertaken lots of initiatives, projects and programmes to promote the sustainability issues. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the way in which the city faces the sustainability and could act as a useful example for the sustainable urban planning in Greece.