The development of planning education and its relation to the ...

Research Briefing 245
introduced in the Departments of Economics very early, often as a compulsory subject.
However, although it started as an important subject in the curricula of the Departments of
Economics during the fifties, it declined in the seventies and eighties.
This gradual decline in the importance of geography was accompanied by a shift towards
regional geography, belatedly following the international trend of the time. During the sixties
the Schools of Technology introduced Urban and Regional Planning, which from the fall of
the dictatorship to the mid eighties—a period of intense politicization reflected in the
introduction of subjects with a social content—became very important and was selected by
many students.
Even a quick glance will show that, essentially, planning and geography are taught to a limited extent
in Greek Universities. Some courses of physical geography are taught in the Department of
Geology [National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki (AUT)], in the Department of Physics (NKUA and AUT) and in the Department
of Rural and Surveying Engineering of the AUT. Human geography courses are taught in
many departments: a few courses in the Departments of Architecture (AUT), of Economics
and International & European Economic Studies [Economic University of Athens (EUA)], of
Agriculture (AUT), of the Primary School of Education [Ioannina University (IOU), AUT,
Dimokrition University of Thrace, (DUT), University of Athens], of History [AUT, Ionian
University (IU)]. A significant number of human geography courses are also taught in the
Departments of Rural and Surveying Engineering [National Technical University of Athens
(NTUA), AUT]. In this respect, the Department of Geography of the University of the
Aegean (UA), which began operation in 1994, is unique; it has filled a serious gap and
undoubtedly has a very important role to play.
There are marry approaches to planning and geography, in other words different approaches to the
analysis of space, something that has a significant impact on the organization of university
studies. However, as we point out in Section 3, this issue has not been raised as yet in Greece,
though at the level of the individual faculty member/researcher the majority have identified
themselves to one approach or the other and some of them are prominent representatives of
the subject. One hopes that it is an issue that sooner or later will be dealt with in the newly
formed specialized departments that is: Urban and Regional Development (PU), Planning and
Regional Development, University of Thessaly (UTH), and Geography (UA).
The paper is divided into two main sections, apart from the introduction (Section 1). In
Section 2 we have focused on the analysis of the courses concerning space in general
(Planning, Geography, Regional Development, etc.) taught in various departments of the
Greek Universities. In Section 3 there are some general comments/conclusions covering the
teaching of planning and geography in Greek Universities.
2. Departments Dealing with the Subject of Space in Greek Universities
This section, which is subdivided in two parts, analyses how planning and geography are
taught in the Greek Universities and is based on an examination of the most recent curricula
of the relevant departments. The first part (Section 2.1) focuses on the three university
departments which specialize in the subject of space. The second part (Section 2.2) focuses on
the relationships between the classification of courses and departments.
2.1 Departments Specializing in the Subject of Space
At present there are three such departments, however since they have been established very
recently and they arc still understaffed it is very difficult to make any firm judgment. Until
recently there were neither systematic nor comprehensive studies in the Greek Universities
concerning the subject of space. There was no distinct unity recognized by the Greek