Saving Santorini: Students Seek to Tame Tourism

The rising tide of tourism is threatening the Mediterranean island of Crete and the smaller islands around it, including an eight-mile-long gem called Santorini.  The rocky isle is stunning and has been ever since an ancient volcano blew part of it up, leaving a legacy of curving cliffs diving steeply into unbelievably blue seas. 

It’s a place that’s too pretty for its own good, such that three million visitors drop by every year.  Too many wanting far too much – space, water, restaurants, hotels, bathrooms and in the case of the ever-present cruise ships, a place to flush their waste tanks – in an area that normally supports 12,000 residents.  The traditional farming and fishing villages – and their infrastructure and sewage systems – are overrun and overwhelmed.

That’s where the University of Cincinnati students and faculty come in.  The UC team of five faculty and eight students now on Santorini for the summer is part of an ongoing UC “tourism make-over” effort in Greece.  UC teams first responded to municipalities in Crete, located 110 miles south of Santorini, four years ago.  After multi-year efforts to help plan for and initiate sustainable tourism efforts in Crete, the team was invited to Santorini this summer to begin a multi-year effort there. 

As they work, UC’s Santorini students have found time to send back the following update:

July 19, 2004
Today marked the return to work and Santorini after a much-needed break.  During the break, Mike Steele, Hilary Fulmer and Eddie Huber…decided to go to the rather quiet island of Milos, an island they found was quiet for a reason.  The ferries come only twice a week. So the three were unfortunately trapped on a Greek island for a number of days (A dream I’m sure many people have wished for.). 

Andy Meyer and Curt Freese decided not to take a break.  On a wing and a prayer, they rented a car in Piraeus and made their way with a Greek map to the ancient site of Delphi.  After Delphi, they went up to the stunning monasteries of Meteora and then to the waterfalls of Edessa in Macedonia.  After Edessa, they toured the tombs of Philip of Macedon and of Alexander the Great’s son in Vergina.  They then went on to Thessaloniki.  All in all, their trip covered over 2,000 kilometers, and we’re told Curt momentarily found religion on the trip due to Andy’s quick assimilation of Greek driving practices on narrow mountain roads.

Finally on to Professor Michael Romanos and Assistant Professor Carla Chifos.  Never content to rest, the group leaders traveled to the islands of Paros and Naxos, where they not only toured each island in its entirety but had time to meet and network with each island’s mayor and public officials. 

July 20, 2004
Less than three more weeks to go! Work has started again in full gear, and we students are doing our best to readjust to working rather than touring or relaxing.  Meetings have been set up, work plans have been gone over, and papers have been edited. Tonight however, the team went to a Greek planner’s house to convince him to enter the Masters of Community Planning Program in UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.  We think we were pretty convincing, but who knows when the school and Cincinnati have to compete with a Greek island. 

The project in Santorini is funded by the island’s municipality and by UC’s Institute for Global Studies and Affairs.  This year’s team consists of Michael Romanos, professor of planning; Carla Chifos, assistant professor of planning; Frank Russell, director of UC’s Community Design Center; Menelaos Triantafillou, visiting associate professor of planning; and Frank Wray, associate professor of biology.  The architecture and planning students on this year’s team are Eileen Crisanti, Curt Freese, Hilary Fulmer, Edward Huber, Nicole Lopez-Stickney, Nora Luehmann, Andrew Meyer, Michael Steele and Hayfaa Wadih.

Here’s more on UC’s 2004 efforts in Santorini:

A Research Cliffhanger Awaits University of Cincinnati Team Heading to Crete
Students Help a Drowning Island Stay Afloat

For more on UC’s 2003 efforts in Crete: www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=733

For more on efforts from earlier years: www.uc.edu/info-services/credef.htm