Main Spatial Problems Identified in Urban Areas:

• Up to the mid 1980s, a scattering of subdivided plots and isolated residential units marked the outskirts of Cypriot towns.  However, prevailing economic conditions, real estate market trends, and social perceptions contributed to the continuous deterioration of this trend so that, prior to the enactment of the Town and Country Planning Law in 1990, it had become characteristic of the urban landscape.  Moreover, land fragmentation remained a substantial obstacle to the planning and implementation of comprehensive projects, while the existence of private water supply systems up to 1982 continued to facilitate development outside designated areas.

• Whereas the relatively slow development of towns prior to the 1940s had ensured the concentration of administrative, commercial and cultural activities within central areas, the post-war economic boom, especially in the case of Nicosia, and the sudden economic expansion that followed the influx of refugees in the aftermath of the Turkish invasion, especially in coastal towns, created centrifugal tendencies that manifested themselves through the location of important urban uses along main road arteries away from the centre and into the burgeoning suburbs.  The absence of planning legislation and an ineffective development control system permitted the mixing of incompatible uses and activities, giving rise to conditions that still downgrade the quality of life in most urban areas.

• The initial concentration of services, commerce, administration and other basic activities in urban centres had encouraged the development of radial (in the case of Nicosia) or fan-shaped (in the case of some coastal towns) street patterns, as a result of the predominance of a single employment centre.  The subsequent scattering of employment opportunities and residential areas over the wider urban region occurred mainly along these transportation corridors, greatly restricting their carrying capacity and giving rise to significant congestion problems, since it was not accompanied by the necessary road infrastructure improvements.

• The Turkish invasion of 1974 and the continuing military occupation of a substantial portion of the country brought about a sudden and intense deterioration of these urban problems and accelerated existing tendencies.  In many urban areas populations increased by about 30% almost overnight with far-reaching consequences.  The location of most refugee housing estates, set up through public housing programmes and self-housing schemes in the outskirts of urban areas where cheap land was readily available, created a new planning reality that further contributed to urban sprawl.

• The lack of effective planning legislation up to 1990, coupled with a high demand for investment in real estate and the withholding of land for either future use or purely speculative reasons, have created conditions which contribute to the degradation of the quality of life for large proportions of the urban population through the prevalence of urban sprawl, the presence of large proportions of vacant plots in central areas and the mixing of incompatible uses.  High prices of land withheld within Development Areas have caused lower income groups to search for residential land further a field, thus contributing again to urban sprawl.

• Existing patterns of economic activity often cause land use conflicts, giving rise to traffic, environmental and amenity problems, especially in residential areas.  In addition, workshop, retail and office space constructed for speculative reasons remains to a great extent vacant or underused, thus exacerbating existing problems.

• The provision of grossly lagging public transportation services, partly due to the prevalence of radial routes from suburban areas to town centres that ignore lateral connections between peripheral areas, sets up a vicious circle where insufficient numbers of users are attracted for the services to be sustained and upgraded.  This in turn contributes to the prevalence of the private automobile with negative consequences on road congestion.

• The inadequacy of public open spaces is evident in all urban areas, in terms of area, distribution and management.  Older residential neighbour-hoods also lack children’s playgrounds and local parks, although more recent actions taken since the early 1990s towards the improvement of this situation through relevant policy measures have begun to bear fruit.

Major Urban Policy Constraints:

• The delay in the enactment of the 1972 Town and Country Planning Law until 1990 and the absence of a substantial planning control legislative framework that could address accumulated problems critical to the future sustainability of urban areas, has brought about a number of insurmountable obstacles that render their effective control challenging, even fourteen years into the implementation of planning legislation.

• The behaviour of the real estate market has proven the need for the introduction of fiscal and other measures to adjust the shortcomings of the free market.  Both the particular emotional attachment of Cypriot owners to their property and, more importantly, the prospects of investment, speculation and lifetime savings security associated with the real estate market, create artificial rather than real needs and contribute to increased public reaction against the implementation of a number of planning, spatial and fiscal measures, thus hindering the ability of public institutions to effectively intervene in real estate market mechanisms.

• The high protection afforded by the Constitution with regard to personal property rights stipulates the provision of adequate compensation at current market prices in cases where the implementation of planning measures and limitations substantially diminishes the value of real estate.  The high cost of possible compensations thus becomes a considerable factor that discourages effective planning and policy implementation, as well as, mainly, the adequate provision of infrastructure and services.

• The significant number of commitments concerning development opportunities, land use distribution and road networks accumulated over the years has become a factor substantially restricting opportunities for effective intervention to upgrade the structure and operation of urban areas.

• Within currently designated Development Areas, future development potential is much greater than long-term projected needs, as evidenced by large numbers of vacant plots, undivided land, and existing development in densities lower than those actually permitted.  Moreover, the large spatial distribution of this potential precludes the attainment of sustainable compact development within the current horizon of most adopted spatial plans.

• The promotion and encouragement of comprehensive development projects, a more sustainable alternative to extensive disassociated small-scale development, is severely obstructed by high real estate prices, a tendency to withhold land with immediate development potential for speculative reasons, as well as an ownership pattern characterised by land fragmentation and multiple ownership due to inheritance practices.

• In the case of the capital city of Nicosia in particular, the division of the island creates enormous development problems for large tracts of urban land located in the vicinity of the demarcation line, including the historic urban core.  The situation aggravates pressures for the continuous unbalanced southward expansion of the greater Nicosia urban complex in hilly land towards the island’s main coastal towns and tourist resorts in the government-controlled areas, and away from the central plains and the UN Buffer Zone, where its natural expansion should occur.

Guiding Principles for Urban Policy:

To overcome the problems and constraints enumerated above, the following guiding principles have been adopted:

• Adjustment of the real estate market to the laws of supply and demand.

• More efficient planning of the spatial distribution of various economic activities, basic urban functions and their interactions.

• Improved quality of life in well planned residential areas, provided with necessary community infrastructure and services.

• Effective planning for traffic and public transportation.

• Achievement of sustainability objectives through the safeguarding and management of the natural and built environment.