Maria
Vrasida
Ad-Hoc Expert
Generic Skills
B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:
As early as 1998 in my Bachelors dissertation urban issues and in particular renewable energy at a town planning level, were amongst my research interests. It was this urge to see things at a larger scale that lead me to Town and Regional Planning with a special interest on urban sustainability, urban regeneration and in particular coastal urban sustainability. Spatial and Urban policies in coastal cities became the topic of my PhD thesis since it combines issues of urban sustainability (intense economic pressures through tourism, social interaction and cohesion), along with more sensitive environmental needs.
Urban design, urban sustainability issues and urban livelihood take up a significant part of modules that I teach and are recurring issues in most of the conference announcements.
Working as an independent planning consultant (planning consultant for municipalities) and as a research assistant in projects (Towards an Urban Regeneration Policy for Mediterranean Coastal Cities) has offered me a more realistic approach to the problems at hand.
B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:
My studies in the UK and the projects that I had been involved in during that period have offered me a broad understanding of the learning processes at transnational level with multi cultural stakeholders. I have attended a Socrates Intensive program of exchanging learning and practices in tourism planning between master students from 3 countries, in 1999 and 2002 both as a participant and as a lecturer respectively.
As a lecturer of Urban and Spatial Planning and policy at various levels of higher education (polytechnic, university etc.) I have become familiar with learning processes and methods of reaching out to a diverse audience.
B.3. Proficiency in English:
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English
BA and MA from a UK University.
Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Thematic expertise:
Theme / Policy:
Urban Strategic Planning
Summary Thematic expertise:
1. Urban strategic planning
2. Integrated urban renewal
3. Local governance
4. Environmental issues
5. Sustainable urban mobility
Urban regeneration and development throu tourism using urban and spatial planning policies and strategic design have been the main reasearch interest in most of my papers, conference anouncements and reasearch projects, including my PhD.
Expertise support to local authorities and other stakeholders in designing & delivering integrated and participatory policies
E.1. Knowledge on participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local polices :
During my masters course in the University of Liverpool. Long project on urban parks which involved attending 2 public consultation meetings regarding Everton Park.
Tourism and recreation distribution in the city of Volos (A. Defner). Tourism is always an issue of conflicting interests. Local residents feel like they are becoming a tourism product, there is continuing conflict over land use, increasing pressure on resources and services.
A balance between planning for locals and planning for tourists needs to be achieved and the flow of income generated by tourism needs to be recycled in the local economy. The supporting industry of tourism is local recreation and leisure as well as services like hospitals,
roads, banks etc. Increasing tourism applied pressure on all of the above thus place specific coping techniques need to be planned in order to achieve integration and balance between tourism and local urban life.
E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:
PhD –Town and spatial Planning Policies for the Development of medium Size coastal cities through and via tourism.
Monitoring the effect of urban policies based on a predetermined set of indicators which derived from the questionnaire survey.
Having users (tourists and local residents) evaluate the end product, in this case the city. Identify opportunities and determine the extent to which these opportunities were exploited by local authorities. All of the above were part of the methodological approach used in the thesis in order to evaluate the success of urban and spatial planning policies (vision statement and intention of the policy, implementation, and result).
PhD topic(2001-2011): Spatial and urban planning policies for the development of medium size coastal cities through tourism. Key Issues Urban policies, integrated strategic urban planning, local governance and spatial aspect of tourism, the implication of spatial policies on tourism and vice versa, coastal environmental issues, the environment as an asset for tourism, integrated urban coastal tourism policy, local governance and its spatial implication on the coastal zone.
Master Of Arts in Town and Regional Planning. (1998-2000)
Main interests: Urban strategies, urban parks, urban regeneration.
Master Thesis topic: Urban Regeneration in medium size coastal cities.
Lecturing on Urban Design, Town Planning, Sustainable Urban Coastal Tourism.
GSRT research project towards an urban regeneration policy for Mediterranean Urban centers.
Academic research and papers. (2003-2015)
Third Generation Urban Citizen, and Proud of It!
Creating New Public Open Spaces Tourism Implications: The case of Thessaloniki.
Peri-urban Coastal Area in Greece, the case of Volos.
Cities as the Mediators for Development and the Integration of Tourism As the Main Economic Activity: The Case of Coastal Cities. Finding the Balance between Urban and Coastal Tourism. Complementary Activities or a Compromise?.
The Tourism Function as an element of Development and its Integration within the Urban Fabric.
Policy evaluation in medium sized urban coastal areas in Greece.
Urban Dynamics and Networking in Coastal Cities: The Case of Tourism.
Tourism Pressures οn Sensitive Coastal Areas: Case Study Of Greece.
Public Open Space A Challenge for Cities Internationally. A Matter of Quality or Quantity: The Case of Larissa0.
The Relation Between Tourism and Leisure and their Spatial impacts on Coastal Cities.
The Relation between Tourism and Entertainment in Coastal Urban Environments: The Case of Volos, Greece.
Tourism Pressures on Environmentally Sensitive Coastal Areas.
«Pythgoras» research programme, Subject: Integrated Coastal Zone and Water Shed Management.
Paper presented in international ERSA conference in Amsterdam- Urban Dynamics and Networking in Coastal Cities: The Case of Tourism. In international citation index this paper is more frequently mentioned.
E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:
Sustainable urban development policies, is one of the major thematic areas of my PhD thesis and one of the main research interest. Participating in international conferences, organized by the European Regional Science Association, or the Association of European Schools of Planning being an active member of Eurochild have helped keep up to date with the latest academic trends and policy issued concerning sustainability, urban life and development.
Lately Linkedin and specifically Urban & Regional Planning group, Horizon 2020, Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Group, Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Group etc. have proved to be very useful tools in keeping in touch and up to date with latest news, calls for projects and available funding along with the http://europa.eu/ and http://www.unepmap.org/ web pages.
E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:
PhD – (D. Oikonomou) Town and spatial Planning Policies for the Development of medium Size coastal cities through and via tourism. National spatial and town planning policy had to be made place specific for coastal urban centres in Greece taking under consideration issues of environmental sustainability and sensitivity, the increased population density of coastal areas and cities worldwide, limited resources like actual space, water etc., the increase in anthropogenic economic activity of the coastal zone and finally the importance of the coastal zone as an economic and environmental asset for the surrounding areas and inland cities. All the different parameters had to be addressed, evaluated and the end result which is the better management of tourism had to be presented to the local population in a way that it will become accepted.
Magnesia Development Plan (A.Deffner), when writing the development plan for sustainable tourism in Magnesia Prefecture, a compromise between the need of all stakeholders and actors had to be made. Using local resources, creative industries and services had to be put to public consultation in order to determine the extent to which the locals were willing to incorporate tourism in their area and accept the economic shift from a thriving industrial and port economy to an economy based on services.
Informations
Residence location:
Greece
Languages:
Greek - Mother tongue
Foreign Languages level:
Foreign languages:
Email:
vrasidam@gmail.com