On contributing the citizen’s voices to the Local Urban Plan:The case of South Kynouria

Abstract

This article examines the role of citizen participation in the integrated protection and management of a place, within the context of contemporary territorial and urban planning. This is explored through the case study of the Local Urban Plan (ΤΠΣ) of the municipality of South Kynouria, on the eastern coast of the Peloponnese. The theoretical framework of the research approaches cultural landscape, and other forms of heritage that constitute it, as heritage commons. This highlights the fundamental connection between urban planning, cultural landscape protection, and citizen participation as inseparable dimensions of contemporary spatial planning. The action-research was developed mainly through fourteen community-based participatory workshops in South Kynouria, aiming at the critical assessment of the methodological approach. The research poses crucial questions and field-tests whether and in what ways, participatory processes can deepen the understanding of place, enrich designing for place, and be mobilized as a substantial tool for participation and protection.