Crisis-driven changes in construction patterns: evidence from building permits in a Mediterranean city

This study aimed to describe the construction sector’s response to the 2007–2008 recession based on the spatial analysis of 10 building activity indicators over a 25-year period (1990–2014) in Athens, Greece. Expansion and recession cycles influenced the average values of four indicators (density of new buildings, average floors per new building, density of enlarged buildings and building permits per inhabitant) without altering their spatial pattern. By contrast, the spatial distribution of six indicators (proportion of small-sized dwellings, average surface area of new buildings, average number of floors in enlarged buildings, average surface area of enlarged buildings, volume ratio of enlarged buildings compared to new buildings and ratio of new building surface area to the absolute population increase) became more heterogeneous during the study period. Local-scale indicators derived from building-permits data provide insights into building cycles, shedding light on the short-term effects of the recent crisis on the construction sector.