2025
Aris Vartholomaios
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning
Department of Planning and Regional Development, School of Engineering, University of Thessaly
Aris Vartholomaios is Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the Department of Planning and Regional Development (DPRD), University of Thessaly (UTh). He holds a Diploma in Rural and Surveying Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh, 2009), an MA in Urban Design from the Joint Centre for Urban Design, Oxford Brookes University (2010, with Distinction), and a PhD in Environmental Urban Design (2016) from the School of Architecture, AUTh.
His research focuses on the urban and environmental planning of cities: climate-responsive urban form, microclimate and energy, planning instruments and their implementation (for example building regulations and urban regeneration), and the use of digital technologies (GIS, machine learning/AI, simulation) to support urban planning and design. He is a former IKY–Siemens scholar and has received the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Seal of Excellence.
Planning, environment, and the rules that shape the Greek city.
Research
Urban planning guided by the environment, using computational methods.
Climate-responsive urban form
How the shape of cities and their building stock responds to climate, and how planning can steer it toward more liveable, lower-energy outcomes.
Microclimate & urban energy
Solar access, outdoor thermal comfort and the energy performance of urban dwellings and public space, studied through measurement and simulation.
Planning instruments & implementation
The instruments through which planning shapes the city (building regulations, street-layout plans, regeneration) and how they work in practice.
Machine learning & Artificial intelligence
Machine learning and artificial intelligence as tools that support urban analysis and planning. A human-centred approach to the new technologies of design and decision-making.
Publications
11
Peer-reviewed journal articles
7
h-index
Citation counts are self-reported and refreshed periodically; see the linked profiles for live figures. (as of June 2026)
Peer-reviewed journal articles
112025
2025
2023
2021
2021
2019
2019
2017
An on-line interactive Municipal Information System for the reporting and management of issues related to the operation of a Municipality and the service of its residents
2017
2015
Greek-language journal articles
1Books, chapters & textbooks
52025
2024
2021
Mapping the thermal comfort of the monumental axis of Aristotelous (in Greek)
2020
2015
'Once a forest, always a forest'? The politics of deforestation in Greece (in Greek)
International conference papers
122026
Exploring the Potential Integration of Urban Building Energy Models (UBEM) into Urban Planning in Greece
2026
Urban typologies in the age of AI: towards the interpretable city
2026
Geoinformatics and Land Administration for Cultural Heritage Preservation
2023
2023
2020
Metamodeling the influence of form and shading on the heating and cooling loads of a residential zone in the Mediterranean
2020
2015
Climatic urban design strategies for the Mediterranean
2015
The impact of green space distribution on the microclimate of idealised urban grids
2015
Reanimating open space: The environmental transformation of a coastal node in Thessaloniki
2014
Identifying 'crisis-proof' places: An assessment of public space accessibility using Space Syntax and GIS in the Municipality of Kalamaria, Greece
2013
The green space factor as a tool for regulating the urban microclimate in vegetation-deprived Greek cities
National conference papers
72025
The third dimension in the street-layout plan: is the transition from the building line to the building volume feasible? (in Greek)
2024
Urban form and sustainability as a product of rules: an algorithmic investigation of the environmental incentives of the New Building Code (NOK) (in Greek)
2022
Simulation of microclimate-improvement interventions in a typology of road axes: the historic centre of Thessaloniki (in Greek)
2019
Improvement of microclimatic conditions in Stamatis Karamanlis Square (in Greek)
2018
Barriers and opportunities for integrating climate design criteria into Greek urban planning (in Greek)
2017
Recomposing the sustainable image of place: Fanarioton Square and the Dim. Gounari terminus (in Greek)
2010
A digital interactive map of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (in Greek)
Under review & submitted
32026
Can urban planners rely on Large Language Models? Prompt-framing experiments with frontier models on two contested masterplans
2026
Probabilistic modelling of parcel area uncertainty: implications for land administration and urban planning
2026
Urban buzzwords in practice: rhetoric, method, and the politics of diffusion
Other scholarly work
32026
Proceedings of the 7th Panhellenic Conference on Planning & Regional Development (in Greek)
2025
Generative Artificial Intelligence in teaching Spatial Planning, Urban Planning and Regional Development (in Greek)
2025
Teaching
Teaching handbook
Sustainable (?) Urban Design
A handbook · Christodoulou, Vartholomaios & Oikonomou · Kallipos+, 2024
2024–present
Urban Planning II & IV · Environmental Urban Design (MSc) · Research Methods · Surveying–Geodesy I & II
University of Thessaly · DPRD
2020–present
Digital Tools for Environmental Analysis (MaCAD)
IAAC Barcelona (remote)
2015–2024
Urban Design I & II (MSc) · Surveying–Geodesy · Street-layout plans & implementation acts
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Architecture & Surveying)
2021–2022
Construction of Urban Space
International Hellenic University, Serres
Talks & public engagement
2026
New technologies in bioclimatic neighbourhood design
MSc Spatial Planning lecture series, School of Architecture, AUTh
2026
Sustainable, human cities: how planning reshapes everyday experience
Larisa Model High School · 'Larisa 2030' programme (school outreach)
2024
Does the building code's environmental incentives produce sustainable urban form?
1st Scientific Conference on Spatial Planning, Thessaloniki
2021
Mapping the thermal comfort of the monumental axis of Aristotle Square
17th Venice Architecture Biennale
Exhibition · Greek Pavilion
2021
Urban Heat Island workshops
Karapantseio Cultural Centre, Municipality of Ampelokipoi-Menemeni
Three 3-hour workshops (Nov 2021), lead facilitator · Project 'Strengthening Ecological Awareness and Promoting Environmental Volunteering in the Municipality of Ampelokipoi-Menemeni' · Contractor: CONSORTIS · OP Central Macedonia 2014-2020 (ERDF & national funds)
2018
Strengthening urban sustainability and resilience with Earth Observation
Ecocity Forum 2018, Thessaloniki
2018
Mitigating urban air pollution by innovative design
TRAP Project Experts Workshop, Interreg IPA CBC, Thessaloniki
2018
Smart, resilient cities with Earth Observation
9th Digital Analytics Meetup on Smart Cities, Thessaloniki
2018
Earth Observation for climate-resilient design
Technical Chamber of Greece (Central Macedonia), Thessaloniki
2018
Introduction to environmental analysis software
MSc Environmental Architectural Design, AUTh
2017
Climatic urban design
MSc Environmental Architectural Design, AUTh
2016
Thermal comfort in buildings and outdoor spaces
Lifelong Learning 'Sustainable Architectural Implementations', AUTh
2015
Urban form, climate and energy
'SPECIAL' EU Partnership Seminar, Thessaloniki
2015
Urban form, climate and energy
MSc Environmental Architectural Design, AUTh
2015
The climate of Greek cities
Lifelong Learning 'Environmental Urban Design', AUTh
Experience
2024–present
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning
University of Thessaly · Dept. of Planning & Regional Development
2022–2024
Environmental design consultant & researcher
Consortis · PRIME Energy Indoor project
2019–2021
Research Fellow · thermal loads & urban morphology
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (ESF/EDBM103)
2013–present
Environmental design consultant (self-employed)
Bioclimatic regeneration & energy studies
2012–2016
Doctoral researcher (IKY–Siemens scholar)
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Education
2012–2016
PhD, Environmental Urban Design
School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Grade: Excellent
2009–2010
MA in Urban Design
Joint Centre for Urban Design, Oxford Brookes University, UK
With Distinction
2004–2009
Diploma (MEng), Rural & Surveying Engineering
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Cadastre, Photogrammetry & Cartography
1998–2004
High school diploma (General Lyceum)
Anatolia College, Thessaloniki
Recognition
2019
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Seal of Excellence
European Commission (ThermGIS proposal, scored 87.5%)
2023
2nd prize, 'South Gates of Thebes' architectural competition
Environmental documentation & design guidance
2013
IKY–Siemens Doctoral Excellence Scholarship
2010
Distinction, MA in Urban Design
Oxford Brookes University
Institutional service
2026–present
Ambassador, UN Sustainable Development Goals — Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
University of Thessaly
2026
Coordinator, organising team — 2nd Urban Hackathon
University of Thessaly · DPRD
2025
Organising committee — 1st Urban Hackathon
University of Thessaly · DPRD
2025
Scientific & organising committee — 7th Panhellenic Conference on Planning & Regional Development (PRDCONF7)
Volos, 25–28 Sep 2025
2024–2026
Member, Diploma Theses Committee
University of Thessaly · DPRD
Memberships
Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE)
Class A consulting licences: Surveying (Cat. 2) & Urban Planning (Cat. 16)
2010–2017
Anelixi
Civil non-profit company for the dissemination of bioclimatic architecture and clean building technologies
Associate
Software
Computational tools developed alongside the research.
Urban Solar Carver (USC)
GPU-accelerated, solar-driven urban form-finding
Computes the maximum developable building volume that still protects solar and daylight access, turning the principle of a "right to light" into a practical computational instrument for planning regulation. Ships as a Python library with a Grasshopper connector.
Greek Toponymic Atlas
Nationwide placename mapping from Hellenic Military Geographical Service (ΓΥΣ) data
Built from Hellenic Military Geographical Service (ΓΥΣ) data through a three-stage pipeline (morphological rules, LLM disambiguation and manual validation) that turns raw toponyms into a navigable spatial dataset.
UXindoor
A framework for scoring indoor user experience
A standardised framework for scoring the indoor user experience of buildings, combining qualitative and quantitative indicators of environmental quality. Developed and tested on public office buildings.
Interactive map of AUTh
A digital interactive campus map
An early digital, interactive map of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki campus, presented at the National Conference on Cartography.
Rhino / Grasshopper workflows
Parametric environmental simulation workflows
Various Grasshopper definitions developed over time, with an emphasis on parametric environmental simulation: thermal comfort, climate/microclimate and energy. Available on request.
Building Code incentives calculator
Quantifying the environmental incentives of the Greek Building Code (NOK)
An application that computes the effects of the environmental incentives (bonus floor area and height) granted by the New Building Code (NOK, articles 10 & 25) on building volume. It offers visualisations and a range of useful indicators.