Over the past five years, debate over the future of the Cyclades has intensified as a construction boom and rapid tourism growth threaten the islands’ identity, strain infrastructure and cause damage, including at Sarakiniko on Milos.

The period has coincided with a nationwide rollout of urban planning plans, now being presented island by island for the next 15 years.

Proposals for Serifos and Sifnos emphasize further tourism and construction described as “mild,” largely continuing the existing model of dispersed building. Strict limits on development are rare, with most out-of-plan construction still allowed and promises of stronger oversight by the Environment Ministry.

On Serifos, large zones of “mild tourist development” include agricultural landscapes and a former mining area rich in industrial monuments. Local residents oppose turning the mining zone into a tourism hub. On Sifnos, most of the island is placed in land-use control zones where building continues under a “mild” label, despite its classification as already tourism-developed.