Using E-Government Services for the 		Environmental Planning of Polycentric Urban Regions
Elias Hadzilias

IÉSEG School of Management
Catholic University of Lille
3 rue de la Digue, 59800 Lille, France
E-mail: e.hadzilias@ieseg.fr
Tel. +33 320 545 892 (ext. 664), fax +33 320 544 786

Abstract 
Polycentricity, basically denoting the existence of multiple centers in one area, seems to have become one of the defining characteristics of the urban landscape in advanced economies. According to economists with a strong neoclassical inclination, one of the most interesting features of modern urban landscapes is the tendency of economic activity to cluster in several centers of activity. A polycentric urban region has many nodes, not just one large metropolis dominating everywhere else. It means connecting different villages, towns and cities into networks, so that rather like a phone network, everyone on it can access the same facilities and reach everyone. 
This presentation aims at demonstrating the advantages of e-Government services for environmental and spatial planning of polycentric networks. More specifically, it addresses the problem of connecting the Greek islands’ administration involved in environmental planning. The islands included in this study are geographically located in the Aegean Sea and due to their large number and difficulties in direct communication, traditional collaboration methods prove to be insufficient. Therefore, we suggest modern e-Government services that support the participation of the administrators from the islands dispersed in the northern part of the Aegean. 
Environmental planning is a process of identifying, assessing and coming up with solutions to environmental issues. The goal of environmental planning is to improve the quality of the environment and the health and welfare of people. Environmental planning in a society can be approached in a number of different ways and e-participation enhances the results with the active participation of all the stakeholders. 
The emphasis on polycentricity, competitiveness, cohesion and balance emerging from Europe should encourage administrators to rethink the assumptions and culture in which their planning practice has been fashioned. This means reaffirming and rediscovering some traditional aspects of environmental planning, which include e-participation to a great extent. Environmental planners have long argued that space and place matter, but the plot-by-plot basis of planning control and the rooting of the system in legal detail mean that the “big picture” can sometimes get lost.
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