Rural areas are significantly affected by spatial vulnerability, the digital gap, depopulation, and population ageing. Marginalized populations are seeking collective well-being, social inclusion, and local development in smart villages, an increasingly important area of interest for scholars and practitioners as well as rural areas and communities. This article attempts to highlight the dominant trends in smart villages planning and depict the characteristics of Greek rural areas and populations alongside the implemented localized smart actions. To achieve this aim, the research utilized the existing literature through bibliometric analysis by extracting data from the Web of Science database. Building upon the bibliometrics, the research focused on identifying localized implemented interventions in the Greek rural areas. The results suggest that innovation, knowledge, growth, and management appear to impact rural smart planning, while the limited interventions of smart villages in Greece focus on social innovation and local development. The study argues that in Greece, a single holistic smart villages model cannot be proposed, due to the country’s geographical and demographical variability. The proposed trends, though, can be implemented locally to encourage rural development and population inclusion; therefore it is recommended to increase local stakeholders’ awareness and active engagement.

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is endemic to the Attica region of Greece. The geographical distribution of VL cases was analyzed employing methods of spatial analysis in a GIS environment. A geographic database was constructed including data for the disease cases and environmental factors, such as land cover types, stray dog population, and socioeconomic factors. Classic and spatial regression models are presented that suggest the factors contributing most to the incidence of leishmaniasis are green urban areas and the population of stray dogs in the municipalities of Attica region. The results of the spatial regression model were more accurate, thus were used to produce a disease risk map. This map indicates the high-risk municipalities in which surveillance for the control of leishmaniasis is necessary.

History and the modern world co-exist in Greece’s landscape. The urban spaces of Greek cities contain structures from ancient history alongside contemporary constructions, but intense urban development from the 1960s onwards, as in the historic center of Athens, has led to imbalances with respect to cultural heritage protection. The 1975 Greek Constitution defined the preservation and protection of the cultural environment as a constitutional mandate, and severe restrictions on the exploitation of private properties deemed to be of historical or architectural importance were imposed. Property owners were deprived of their property development rights (DRs), whereas the preservation and conservation of protected constructions became costly, resulting in abandoned buildings and a downgraded urban environment. As the debate over cultural heritage protection and urban regeneration is more topical than ever, the recent legal reintroduction of the transfer of development rights (TDRs) provides new opportunities for property exploitation with respect to cultural heritage protection legislation. Herein is presented a methodological framework on the classification and 3D visualization and representation of DRs and TDRs in relation to the cultural heritage protective framework and its implementation in a selected area of Athens’ historic center. Legal and technical aspects that affect 3D DRs and TDRs are emphasized as key elements in the successful implementation of the TDR process.