As a part of the process of drafting Municipal Development Plans, the Municipality of Hani i Elezit together with the Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme, organized an urban design workshop to improve public spaces in the town centre of the municipality. The workshop was held on 25th February, and gathered over 50 stakeholders from different working fields from the municipality including municipal officers, civil society, youth, handicapped persons and business community representatives.  

The main purpose of the urban design workshop was to identify a Capital Investment Project (CIP), which will be drafted as a follow up to the workshop. The CIP intends to provide opportunities for the community of Hani i Elezit/General Jankovic for gathering and passive or active recreation, as there is currently no dedicated public or civic space in the town centre for the community. The Municipality and MuSPP are seeking to also improve the visual quality of the town centre through planting appropriate vegetation.  

The MuSPP team presented the design and its relationship to the current work on drafting the Municipal Development Plan (MDP). It was than followed by an urban design presentation. The MuSPP team presented initial planning and urban design analyses of the town centre, identifying existing strengths and weaknesses before detailing the opportunities for the area. Participants were then divided into four working groups to partake in an urban design workshop. Results of the workshop derived from the working groups where the first recommendations were for relocation of the electricity transmitters from the town centre, relocation of the municipality parking and transforming it into a green and public zone, creation of a new parking space behind the municipality building, removing the fencing around the Municipal building, enlargement of the cultural centre, demolition of old buildings to the east of the Municipal building, construction of a kindergarten, and the construction of a fountain etc.

The proposed CIP in the Hani i Elezit town centre will be jointly and equally funded by UN-HABITAT and the Municipality of Hani i Elezit.