“…Minoan Group's first investment plan was based on a Local Spatial Plan which, drafted in close consultation with the investors themselves, was essentially designed to accommodate the company's initial plans in the region (Melissourgos, 2008) years before the crisis burst. Similarly to what Krijnen (2018a) describes in regard to Beirut's rent gap, this reflects the power of informal and illegal tactics which, long established in Greek cities as well as the countryside as part of the state's diachronic laissez‐faire attitude towards land and property (see Hadjimichalis, 2014b; Korfiati, 2020), are employed both by the poor (seeking to occupy space for use‐value) and the powerful (seeking to exploit space for exchange‐value) (Roy, 2011). Crucial changes to the hierarchical structure of planning as part of the post‐2008 aggressive reforms, however, have had a tremendous effect on legalizing the new project and reinforcing its ability to resist legal appeals.…”