On Monday October 7th, UN-Habitat's Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme in Kosovo, together with the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, joined forces to celebrate World Habitat Day 2013 and organised a seminar under the topic Kosovo Cities in Transition: towards a second generation of municipal plans. The seminar aimed at discussing the implementation, monitoring and overall assessment of the achievements of the municipal planning process in Kosovo in the perspective of the implementation of the new Law on Spatial Planning which came into force in September 2013. The seminar and debate on Post-MDP (Municipal Development Plan) and new generation of Plans for Kosovo municipalities proposed also to exchange experiences from the region.

The audience was composed of officials and professionals from central and local level, planners, representatives from the university, civil society and other relevant stakeholders. The meeting was honored by the presence of the Deputy Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, Mr. Shpetim Rudi, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government Administration, Mr. Besnik Osmani, the representative of Swedish Development Cooperation in Kosovo, Mrs. Maria Melbing, and the Chief Technical Adviser of UN-Habitat's Municipal Spatial planning Support Programme, Mrs. Gwendoline Mennetrier.

The opening speeches brought a general picture on the actual urbanisation situation in Kosovo level as well as globally. The Deputy Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning addressed the demand rising from the migration to the cities and the lack of urban planning to respond to these phenomena. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government Administration raised the issue of stronger involvement of all stakeholders, having in mind that the plans should respond to the needs and requirements of the citizens, their ultimate goal being to improve the quality of life and services of the citizens. Mrs. Melbing, representative of Swedish Development Cooperation in Kosovo, addressed the global picture of the growing population in towns and related demand for enhanced urban services. The role of urban planning to meet the different needs of the society, for the good of future generations, was also emphasized. The Chief Technical Adviser of UN-Habitat Office in Kosovo, Mrs. Mennetrier, reminded the professional audience to take into account important issues in the new generation of plans that are now being drafted such as in terms of democratic process, involving civil society organizations and all concerned stakeholders. The focus should be on a shared vision for the city (linking social development, economic productivity and environmental protection) and on multi-partner action plans to translate this vision into reality by addressing priority issues. In terms of implementation, local authorities should be in the driving seat as the level of government closest to the citizens. Planning and urban management should be closely integrated.

The seminar continued with the presentation by the Director of the Department of Spatial Planning within MESP, Mr. Agim Radoniqi, who presented the assessment of the first generation of plans. The Director of the Institute of Spatial Planning, Mr. Luan Nushi, raised the issue of planning as a priority for development. Apart from the local experiences, the seminar also presented international experiences from Romania and Slovenia as two post-socialist countries with a similar experience in planning. Presentations were delivered from Mr. Gruia Badescu, Local Development Group (GDL), Romania, and from Mr. Franc J. Zakrajsek, from the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. The presentations gave an overview on the planning system in these two countries and the type of plans. The planning system in Slovenia was briefly introduced and the case of Llubljana was explored. It was emphasized that special attention was given to GIS, digital information, e-governance, as well as zoning and urban planning information system and integration of different data layers into one database. The Romanian planning system was also presented. The need for the second generation of the spatial plans in Romania has emerged from four main reasons: urban sprawl, conversion of brown fields, urban poverty and social exclusion. To address all these issues special attention was given to the monitoring and evaluation of these plans, and the process of evaluation has resulted into lessons learned such as: Involvement of teams from planning to implementation, activities organized by needs not by inertia/common tasks, recommended special implementation team, recommended monitoring team and impact assessment, report to the community.

Peja Municipality was selected from the local level experiences, as the first municipality that has initiated the MDP revision process, and that has drafted the implementation assessment report for the MDP and UDP. The presentation was done my Mr. Modest Gashi, urban planner from the municipality of Peja.

Representatives of the Ministry of Local Government Administration and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning expressed their gratitude to UN-Habitat's Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme for the support that is given to the central level and to Kosovo municipalities, on the spatial planning issues.

The seminar was closed with an open discussion on the planning methods and the way forward for Kosovo municipalities in the future.