The new Special Spatial Planning Framework for Tourism in Greece marks a substantive shift in the way the country is called upon to plan future tourism development. Carrying Capacity, after three decades of being systematically invoked in the case law of the Council of State, is now moving from the level of a general environmental principle into the field of measurable and scientifically verifiable assessment. The institutional establishment of the Carrying Capacity Assessment methodology, through Government Gazette D΄ 200/2024, creates a new framework of requirements for first-level urban planning and for the siting of tourism facilities in the areas under the most intense pressure.

For SUPCO, Carrying Capacity is not just another compliance indicator, nor a standard section of a spatial or environmental study. It is a field of long-standing scientific research and applied experience, combining the sustainability of spatial systems, the resilience of ecosystems, the protection of biodiversity and the assessment of the cumulative impacts of tourism development.

This expertise is today acquiring a European dimension through SUPCO’s participation in the CircHive research project under the Horizon Europe programme. CircHive is developing rigorous and standardised methods for assessing biodiversity footprint and natural capital accounting, so that public and private bodies can take decisions that protect ecosystems and enhance biodiversity.

Within this context, SUPCO is working on the development of a specialised methodology and digital platform for assessing the Carrying Capacity of spatial systems subject to intense tourism pressure. The aim is the early identification of the thresholds beyond which tourism activity may lead to habitat degradation, biodiversity loss and the depletion of critical natural resources. The approach combines spatial, environmental and development indicators, Earth observation data, multi-temporal satellite imagery, natural capital valuation and systematic monitoring of changes in land use and land cover.

The time series required for a reliable Carrying Capacity Assessment are rarely available in complete form in official registers. They do exist, however, in satellite archives dating back to the 1980s. Through the multi-temporal processing of satellite images and orthophotographs, we can reconstruct the evolution of built development, measure the spread of the residential fabric into non-urban areas, assess pressures on the coastal front and quantify changes in land cover and ecosystems.

The great challenge, therefore, is not simply to calculate how much tourism development an area can absorb. It is to determine, in a transparent and verifiable manner, what kind of development it can support without jeopardising natural resources, biodiversity, the landscape and the prospects of future generations.

The transition from the general invocation of Carrying Capacity to its systematic measurement, spatial differentiation and continuous monitoring is one of the most significant turning points in contemporary spatial planning. At SUPCO, we are investing in precisely this transition: in connecting applied urban planning with scientific research, Earth observation and modern European methods for the protection of nature.

#SUPCO #CircHive #HorizonEurope #CarryingCapacity #Biodiversity #SustainableTourism #SpatialPlanning #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #NaturalCapital