The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. The purpose of World Habitat Day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world that we all have responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.

On Monday October 7th, UN-Habitat's Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme in Kosovo, jointly with the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, will be participating in the celebrations of the World Habitat Day 2013. The Seminar will take place at the Emerald Hotel in Pristina, from 9h30 to 13h00.

After a first generation of Municipal Development Plans (MDPs), Kosovo now faces the challenge of evaluating the results in implementing, monitoring and overall assessing the achievements of the municipal planning process. The seminar and debate on Post-MDP and new generation of Plans for Kosovo municipalities proposes to exchange experiences on this highly interdisciplinary topic.

The meeting aims at debating the following questions, in view of the new Law on Spatial Planning:

How to successfully undertake municipal plan implementation and updating? How to evaluate previous spatial planning achievements? How to monitor and promote plan assessment? How to measure and build from current planning practices to create an attractive environment both in urban and rural settings?

You can find out more about the World Habitat day at: http://www.unhabitat.org

NOTE: You must register online to reserve your seat. Please fill the registration form and send it to

office@unhabitat-kosovo.org

Agenda

9.30 Registration and welcoming coffee

10.00 Opening session

10.30 A new framework for sustainable urban development: assessment of the first generation of municipal development plans and the new spatial development framework.

Agim Radoniqi, Director of Spatial Planning, MESP

10.50 Spatial Planning Challenges in Kosovo.

Luan Nushi, Director of Kosovo Institute of Spatial Planning, MESP

11.10 coffee-break

11.30 International Experiences in Plan revision

- Integrated Urban Development Plans in Romania: Challenges and Perspectives for the Region.

Gruia Badescu, Local Development Group (GDL), Romania and University of Cambridge, UK

- Spatial Planning, Normative and Practical Issues: Experiences from Slovenia.

Franc J. Zakrajsek and Vlasta Vodeb, Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia

12.20 Pejë as a pilot case in Kosovo.

Modest Gashi, Municipality of Pejë

12.40 Sustainable planning in Kosovo: planning methods and way forward for Kosovo municipalities - closing discussion