Spatial Planning & Urban Design Code: The New Digital Law

Spatial Planning and Urban Design Code: The New Digital “Bible” of Construction

For decades, the country’s urban planning and zoning legislation resembled a complex puzzle, with thousands of provisions scattered across hundreds of laws, presidential decrees, and ministerial decisions. This situation created confusion for citizens, professionals, and public administration alike—resulting in delays, bureaucracy, and often contradictory interpretations.

With the new Spatial Planning and Urban Design Code, the picture changes radically. For the first time, the entire institutional framework concerning construction, spatial planning, land uses, and permits is codified into a unified text.

What changes with the Code

The Code aggregates and organizes roughly 4,000 provisions that until now were distributed across various legislations. The new digital “Bible” of urban planning legislation will be available online, user‑friendly, searchable, and continuously updated.

Through this approach:

• The process becomes simpler for engineers, lawyers, notaries, and citizens seeking the current regulations.
• Bureaucracy is reduced, as public services now have a single reference point.
• Investment activity is facilitated, since procedures become more transparent and predictable.

From paper to cloud

Innovation is not limited to the consolidation of laws. The Code is integrated into the digital environment of gov.gr, allowing any interested party to instantly search for the prevailing provision and stay informed about amendments in real time.

This shift to the “digital cloud” means that the entire urban planning legislation ceases to be a static document collection and becomes a living tool, accessible to all, with security and transparency.

Benefits for the real estate market

The codification of legislation is expected to have an immediate positive impact on the real estate market:

• Investor confidence: Investors obtain a clear regulatory framework that reduces the risk of delays.
• Acceleration of licensing: Clarity minimizes the possibility of disputes or errors in processes.
• Transparency for citizens and professionals: Access to the provisions becomes direct and free of intermediaries.

A step toward modernization

The new Spatial Planning and Urban Design Code constitutes a significant step of modernization for the country. For the first time, urban planning legislation ceases to be “locked” within complex legal texts and becomes accessible, understandable, and functional for all.

The success of the project will depend on the continuous updating of the Code, as well as the ability of the public administration to leverage this tool to improve the services it offers.