**2.4 The land uses changes in 2007**

The map below depicts the urban fabric of Ioannina in 2007. Ioannina, at this time, is a city that has been transformed into a modern educational, university, sports, and administrative center in Greece.

There is a gradual transformation as a living cell of culture, democracy, and liberal economy, where the forces of conservation strengthen the developmental physiognomy of Ioannina. The city was an important pole of the economic health in Greece during the period 2000–2010.

### *2.4.1 The Egnatia highroad*

An important role is played by the dispute of Egnatia Odos, a landmark road project for the region. The main benefits were the reduction of the equation in time - distance with neighboring regions and the growth of tourist flows from Western Europe and the Balkans.

This was a turning point in the city's modern history, which began to augmentation the leading role in the region. Today, it is a road junction connecting the Egnatia and Ionian highroads (**Figure 6**).

*The Metropolitan Transformation of Ioannina City from 1940 to 2015 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105884*

#### **Figure 6.**

**Figure 7.** *Aerial photo from Ioannina in 2007.*

This photo is the culmination of the increase in the urban complex of Ioannina. The policies of previous years were crystallized with images. The increase in migratory flows, sustainable development, and improvement of the level of education were crucial pillars of the development process of Ioannina.

The main differences are that now the houses have roofs with ceramic bricks, and the roads' quality and quantity have improved. The secondary and local roads have increased, and many maintenance and restoration works have been carried out in the old mansions.

In addition, the coastal road and widening the pedestrian street linearly with the lake is essential. Finally, small "hearths" of greenery have been developed within the city's urban fabric (**Figure 7**).

#### *2.4.2 European policies*

During this period, the city passed a phase of modernization. The economic, cultural, and tourist developmental activities harmonized with E.U political directions. Ioannina became a cell of democracy, neoliberal politics, a tourist attraction, environmental and cultural center. The main pillars of development are around (**Figure 8**).
