- Historic Cities in the Grip of Tourist Development – Lessons from a Cross-Temporal Study in Mykonos   1061 kb by    Romanos, Aristidis | epdamigo@athens2004.com    Short Outline A documentation of the evolution and changes of certain phenomena in the form and the use of seven public spaces in the Chora of Mykonos in the span of 25 years. These changes are mainly due to the growing impact of the tourist industry on the island. The phenomena measured were: the movement of pedestrians –separately of locals and of visitors–, the occupation of public space by parked vehicles, by tavernas, cafés etc. for out-door eating, the densities of people seated and circulating, the uses of ground floors, the noise levels and finally all changes in the external appearance of buildings, of their fittings and fixtures and of the elements that give form to the public space. Conclusions as to the relative influence of these phenomena on the preservation measures are drawn. Abstract The case study of Mykonos concerns a research in the changing form and use of the public urban space of Chora, the main township of the island, deemed worthy of preservation. The aim of the research was, through an analysis of the changing function of public space in the life of the town, to evaluate the efficiency and the scope of the present policy for the preservation of historic cities in Greece and, indirectly, to comment on the notion of “carrying capacity”. In this research project we documented the evolution of certain phenomena in the form and the use of seven public spaces in Mykonos was: the first survey was carried out in 1972, the second in 1983 and the third in 1996. The phenomena measured were: the movement of pedestrians - separately for locals and for visitors, the occupation of public space by parked vehicles, tavernas and cafes for outdoor eating, the densities of people seated and circulating, the uses of ground floors, the noise levels and naturally all changes in the external form of buildings, of their fittings and fixtures and of the elements that give form to the public space. The preservation of historic centres with a high tourist activity and intensity of urban life is a contradiction in terms and poses difficult issues of democratic control. In these cases, the preservation of particular qualities of historic space, embodied in the historic centres – qualities that are being perceived as values per se – may be a more sensible alternative to the holistic preservation approach of the Ministry, an approach whose implementation is clearly failing. Keywords Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2002: The Pulsar Effect   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper