Post-colonial urban development and planning in cyprus: Shifting visions and realities of early suburbia

Abstract

The paper studies the evolution of early suburban neighbourhoods in the context of post-colonial urban development and planning. The Planning Report of the colonial Government of Cyprus in 1959 examined the foundations of urban development in Cyprus and at the same time put forward a surprisingly sustainable vision for the future of planning. Despite these early intentions and guidance, urban districts developed in a way that is far from sustainable, according to widely accepted criteria and indicators (participation, effectiveness of planning and development control, sprawl, character and identity, green spaces). The basic hypothesis is that planning has proved insufficiently capable of providing rational urban development. The paper outlines the roots of the planning shortcomings over the last fifty years. British perceptions of planning from the first half of the 20th century influenced the 1959 Report, which affected, in turn, the legislation which followed. Reasons are given as to why development constraints and land market restrictions have prevented the implementation of rational key ideas and sustainable visions throughout the years. The paper concludes by attempting to visualize these dynamic processes in early suburban neighbourhoods and measures distortions of densities, green spaces, and layouts by taking an early suburban district as a case study.