{"id":207,"date":"2025-07-05T15:37:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T12:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/?p=207"},"modified":"2025-07-26T12:59:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T09:59:21","slug":"how-to-ruin-a-perfect-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/2025\/07\/05\/how-to-ruin-a-perfect-island\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Ruin a \u201cPerfect\u201d Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Valerio Castellini<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Example of over-construction on the island of Paros, Greece. Courtesy of Friends of Paros and Antiparos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I sit aboard Dimitris and Eleni Skiadis\u2019s <\/span>kaiki<\/span><\/i> fishing boat in a quiet bay just south of Aliki. The sun lowers itself behind white Cycladic limestone, painting the scattered homes along the shore gold. A crane towers over a half-finished development nearby.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese houses belong to an American,\u201d says lifelong fisherman Skiadis, scanning the complex. \u201cHe brought his boat, too, and kept an American flag on it for months.\u201d He adds: \u201cOnly two houses in this entire bay belong to locals.\u201d A glance at Google Earth\u2019s archives confirms him: most of the homes weren\u2019t even here a mere 20 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like many other Cycladic islands, Paros is struggling to keep up with the wave of gentrification that has striked the archipelago in the last two decades. Paros has <\/span>led the Cyclades in building permits for five consecutive years<\/span><\/a>\u2014surpassing Mykonos and Santorini\u2014and now ranks first in the region in square footage under construction. Plots and homes change hands rapidly\u2014over <\/span>2,000 registered sales from 2020 to mid\u20112024<\/span><\/a>. The island, long hidden between its flashier neighbors, has suddenly become a speculative prize. Eventually, the fear is that the upsurge of these irreversible projects will destroy what once was a paradisiac escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Architect Angeliki Evripioti of Evripiotis Architects, who splits her time between Paros and Syros, watches these changes closely. She describes clients paying premium for large, glass\u2011fronted homes cut into steep slopes\u2014\u201csemi\u2011excavations\u201d that <\/span>double buildable area by slipping through legal loopholes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditional Cycladic terraces, once natural check\u2011dams against storm runoff, are paved over. \u201cThey have been traditional here for thousands of years, some of these walls are centuries-old,\u201d explains Nicolas Stephanou from the <\/span>Save Paros<\/span><\/i> organisation. The result? When Paros endured its worst flash floods in 20 years this April, streets in <\/span>Naoussa became mud chutes, and infrastructure strained under devastation<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese buildings violate the topography and landscape of the Cyclades,\u201d says architect Angeliki Evripioti, who has worked across Paros and Syros since 2010. She tries to balance minimalism with vernacular tradition\u2014but it\u2019s not easy. Demands have changed, together with the people that land in Paros. Now everything seems to be about profit, with no regards for the islands\u2019 needs and long-term sustainability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Architectural overreach had moved beyond aesthetic concerns, becoming increasingly entangled with questions of access and sustainability. \u201cIt\u2019s like putting 100 people in a room meant for 10,\u201d says realtor Filia Grigoraskou, president of the <\/span>Realtors Association of Paros & Antiparos<\/span><\/i>. The island\u2019s infrastructure has not kept pace with its real estate boom: narrow roads buckle under summer traffic, and restaurant reservations are harder to find than building permits. Despite a <\/span>2012 urban plan that mapped out no-construction zones<\/span><\/a>, no follow-up study was ever implemented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many properties now under construction are actually based on permits issued before 2012. Older, more permissive criteria. After several extensions following the financial crisis and the Covid period, this might be the end of it. \u201cPeople are trying to materialize their rights before they lose them,\u201d explains Sophie Katsipi, a Parian realtor and member of the Association. The result is a last ditch building boom across Paros\u2014particularly outside urban settlements, where large properties can still be developed under grandfathered rules.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Simultaneously, the island\u2019s basic services are thinning. \u201cPeople coming to work in tourism are from everywhere\u2014even overseas,\u201d she notes. But those who sustain the local population\u2014teachers, healthcare workers, municipal staff\u2014are increasingly priced out. A town built for slow rhythms now struggles to serve its own residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are efforts to market \u201cauthenticity\u201d\u2014to package Paros as a place of slow life and vernacular beauty. But even that can ring hollow. \u201cTourists don\u2019t appreciate rural Paros,\u201d Katsipi admits. \u201cI don\u2019t want another sushi place\u2014I\u2019ve had enough!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Valerio Castellini I sit aboard Dimitris and Eleni Skiadis\u2019s kaiki fishing boat in a quiet bay just south of Aliki. The sun lowers itself behind white Cycladic limestone, painting the scattered homes along the shore gold. A crane towers over a half-finished development nearby. \u201cThese houses belong to an American,\u201d says lifelong fisherman Skiadis, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “How to Ruin a \u201cPerfect\u201d Island”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6561,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6561"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}