Urban regenerations have always been a tool towards the improvement of the urban environment through environmental integration and thereafter the quality of life of citizens. However, all regenerations do not have the same success and impact on the surrounding properties. In this paper, two major urban regenerations of Thessaloniki, the second largest city of Greece, are studied through the scope of their effect on property values in combination with the analysis of the effect of traditional property characteristics on values. This study was necessary to fill the gap of determining that sustainable urban planning and environmental integration are nowadays proven more important than property characteristics, when population gathering in urban areas is at its highest point. The current study applied geographically weighted regression, spatial autocorrelation and hot-spot analysis through the environment of ArcGIS to determine which are the factors that citizens seek in their residential area and if these factors are more important than their property characteristics. The findings of the study indicate that citizens always seek for additional urban green and urban quality even in areas where the urban environment is already at a very good level. The difference appears in the fact that in areas where urban green or open spaces are upsent, the weight leans on the characteristics of the wider area and its citizens (socio-economic characteristics, habits etc.) rather than on the property characteristics, when determining property values. On the other hand, citizens living in areas with urban green and open spaces, move a step forward and seek for larger and more friendly green or regenerated areas as a counterpoint for already increased property values. In general, the result of this research underlines that a targeted urban planning for each sub-area is one of the keys toward property values stabilization against economic variations and towards the improvement of the quality of citizens’ lives through environmental integration. Therefore, decision makers and urban designers should take into account all different needs of the citizens in each area setting the goal of maximum possible urban sustainability and resilience and the minimum environmental degradation.

Major infrastructure investments alter accessibility and urban development patterns, yet their impact on housing prices varies significantly across regions. The prevailing interpretation attributes this heterogeneity to supply differences or regulatory constraints, treating land use regulations as exogenous variables. Nevertheless, even two regions with a nominally similar regulatory framework may produce substantially different outcomes in the housing market, depending on the effectiveness of rule implementation. This paper argues that this approach overlooks a critical variable: the ability of regional authorities to coordinate, regulate, permit, and implement spatial development in a predictable and timely manner. In line with this, a conceptual framework is developed, grounded in the literature on spatial and multi-level governance, in which regional institutional capacity is proposed as a potential mediator of capitalization around project milestones (announcement, funding, construction, operation), rather than as a backdrop. This capacity shapes outcomes through three interrelated dimensions: the responsiveness of supply, which depends on administrative capacity and regulatory consistency; the coherence of governance across jurisdictions within functional urban areas; and the management of land value through land value capture instruments. From this framework, testable propositions are derived regarding the intensity, timing, and spatial distribution of price effects. The study does not empirically estimate changes in housing prices, nor does it test the propositions put forward. Instead, it develops the conceptual framework and organizes the spatial and institutional units of observation required for a subsequent empirical test. The framework is specified spatially through Section A, Line 4 of the Athens Metro to organize the project’s spatial units, administrative jurisdictions, land uses, and milestones for future analysis. The contribution is threefold: conceptual, as it elevates regional institutional capacity from a contextual to an explanatory variable; theoretical, in that it bridges urban economics with the governance literature; and policy-relevant, since it repositions the reform of regional governance as a constituent element of housing policy and as a factor that may shape sustainable spatial development outcomes.

Urban regeneration projects, which aim at land redevelopment and land use changes, place a huge impact on the quality of urban environment. Apart from their environmental and aesthetic impact, their positive effects have an economic scale as well. The economic activity of an urban area can be affected by such projects through the increase in the frequency of visits, the consumption due to this increase and the change in real estate values. In particular, commercial values can be affected at a great extent, as the increase in the popularity of an area leads to an increase in revenues and, therefore, increases the demand for commercial properties. This paper examines the economic impact of the seaside urban regeneration, known as NeaParalia, on surrounding commercial values in Thessaloniki, Greece, with the use of hedonic modelling and geographically weighted regression. Findings indicate that, in general, the impact of the seaside regeneration is positive on the demand for commercial uses and on commercial values especially of properties with high proximity to it. However, the impact of variables as criminality and apprehension of the true benefits of regenerated urban areas continue to play an important role. It is worth mentioning that the impact of the regeneration is both reflected on the change in commercial values and the willingness to pay by professionals for the maintenance of the area.