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

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Research Briefing 249 Social Sciences Environment/Natur. Sciences/Engineer. Planning/Geography/ Architecture n European Studies Q Methods & Information Systems • Economics 0 Policy/Institutional Context • Spatial/Regional Planning D Environment ^ Housing & Infrastructures ^ Urban Planning • Theory & History • Physical Geography £] Human, Rural & Cultural Geography 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Figure 3. Types of courses based on types of departments (three). 3. Concluding Remarks (1) The teaching of planning and geography in Greek Universities was until recently extremely limited, and there were neither Planning nor Geography Departments. The situation has changed with the recent establishment of the Departments of Urban and Regional Development at PU, Planning and Regional Development at the UTH, and the operation of the Department of Geography at the UA as of 1994. It is necessary to consider why no Department of Geography existed in Greek Universities and why the study of geography at the level of the university was underdeveloped in a country with a rich tradition in geography in the ancient world (Herodotus, Ptolemeus, Strabon, etc.). Also, there existed Greek scientists doing post-graduate studies abroad, as well as significant geographical research as early as 1960 due to the French human geographers who worked in Greece. They published several books (Burgel, 1965/1988; Kayser, 1964; Kayser et al, 1971, 1989), and the first Socio-economic Atlas of Greece (Kayser et al, 1964). A new Atlas is being produced through the collaboration of the Institute of Urban and Rural Sociology (of the National Centre for Social Research in Athens) and the French School of Athens. The answer to the aforementioned question may lie in the fact that the subject was dominated by engineers and that the powerful Technical Chamber of Greece blocked the entry of competing professions. Also, until recently neither the extent of regional inequalities in Greece nor their importance for the development of the country as a whole or its regions had been realized. The conventional wisdom was that if the country developed as a whole, this would inevitably lead to the development of the regions and therefore would reduce or eliminate spatial inequalities. Finally, it should not be forgotten that other important scientific fields were very late in developing in Greek Universities. For example, a Department of Sociology was established for the first time in the sixties, while Departments of History and Social Anthropology were started only in the early eighties. Thus, there is a general delay in the organization of social sciences in the Greek Universities, due to the role they play in Greek society. In other words, the social sciences are clearly underdeveloped in Greece, and universities are mainly interested in professional training as in the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture and Education. Finally, it should be pointed out that the rich tradition of geography in Ancient Greece did not necessarily continue in modern Greece, where the economic, social, and political circumstances are entirely different. This argument is in accordance with a modern approach of heritage which has recently been formulated and focuses on the last two centuries.
250 Research Briefing (2) Studies in Planning and Regional Development consist of isolated courses and faculties scattered among several departments of the Greek Universities. The peculiarity of the subjects that planning and geography deal with as well as the plurality of approaches to planning and geography are important explanatory factors referring to the peculiarity of faculties and departments in Greek Universities that are dealing with all these different aspects. The importance and nature of the courses dealing with space vary between schools and departments. The same department in different universities will not always teach the same or similar courses dealing with space. (3) As it has already been pointed out there is not only one 'geography' and hence there are many approaches to geography teaching in universities, placing an emphasis on physical rather than human geography, on quantitative rather than or on critical geography, etc. (see Figure 3). Up to now there has not been any opportunity for a substantive scientific discussion regarding the direction of teaching of geography and planning in Greek Universities should follow. This is mainly due to the fact that until 1989 there was no university department dealing with the subject of space. Hence, since the teaching of planning and geography was peripheral to the main core of the apartments where it was taught, it was to be expected that there was not going to be any scientific discussion on the approach to planning and geography that the department was going to take. As for the three departments specializing in the subject of space that have developed since 1989 at the moment they are still in a process of formation, they are relatively understaffed and hence one should not have expected them to develop a dominant view on which approach to geography to follow. (4) The space related courses are not always incorporated into the curriculum, and their teaching must adapt to the general direction of the department. The faculties where these courses are taught are not always orientated towards planning and regional development. Thus, these courses complement other subjects which make up the core of the faculty or department. Because of this they cover a limited area of this science, as viewed from the faculty's or department's main subject. The courses are not taught fully or in a structured way, and are not orientated towards a specific specialization. However, a scientific field cannot be properly organized simply by lumping together the individual subjects that constitute it. The parts must be integrated into a whole with its own philosophy of studies, conceptual categories, analytical and methodological tools, modus operandi and mechanisms of growth. In many departments they are the 'icing on the cake', cut off from the main body of studies such as: Primary Education, Agriculture and Forestry (AUT), Foreign Languages (IU). Students are taught subjects that do not recognize the existence of spatial differentiation. In the final analysis, the scientific approach that prevails in the department is more important than the scientific subject into which it is incorporated. The difficulties involved in the teaching of the space related courses in Economics Departments in Greece are considered below. (a) The neo-classical economists accepted it as a fact that economic activity happened in a vacuum ('on the head of a pin'). As Richardson (1969/1972, p. 8) points out, if we accept the assumptions of neo-classical theory (the most important of which are price and wage flexibility and total mobility of the factors of production—labour and capital—within the country), then space makes no difference. Intractable regional problems do not exist, since the market smoothes out all interregional disequilibria. Interregional differences in prices, wages and incomes cannot persist, other than to the extent that transportation costs prevent their equalization. In other words, the market smoothes out all interregional disequilibria. For this reason, the neo-classical economists did not include space in their general economic theory, nor did they analyse the problems created by the spatial distribution of economic activities. From the nineteenth century 'spatial theories' had been put forward concerning the location of agricultural and industrial production (von Thiinen, 1826/1966; Launhardt, 1882; Weber, 1909/1971), which, however, remained outside the general economic theory.
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