Mr. Shpend Ahmeti, the Mayor of the Municipality of Prishtina, and Ms Gwendoline Mennetrier,  Chief Technical Advisor of UN-Habitat/Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme in Kosovo (MuSPP), financed by the Swedish Development Cooperation, signed today a Memorandum of Understanding providing a cooperation framework towards further sustainable development through application of modern planning methods, enhanced local democracy through participatory and transparent municipal planning processes and improved policy and strategy formulation addressing territorial cohesion and social inclusion. 

In that perspective, MuSPP/ UN-Habitat will support the strengthening of capacities of municipal staff working with geographic data and performing GIS analysis in support of strategic and urban planning, land development and administration. In addition, as a member of 'Future Policy Modelling' (FUPOL) research consortium and in cooperation with consortium coordinator Cellent AG, UN-Habitat will support the implementation of a FUPOL pilot project in the Municipality of Prishtina aiming at assisting the public policy design and implementation lifecycle with new technologies and methods for e-governance, e-participation and policy modeling. As the third component of this Memorandum, within its Global Public Space Programme and in partnership with the Swedish company Mojang, UN-Habitat will support the implementation of a Minecraft pilot project aiming at using Minecraft/ Lego game as a community participation tool to improve priority public spaces.

"We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding defining the cooperation areas identified by both parties and in accordance with the development priorities set by the Municipality of Prishtina. GIS training will be provided, as a tool enabling data collection and analysis and decision-making. UN-Habitat programme will also support the implementation of two pilot projects in the municipality of Prishtina in order to assist in the participatory shaping of public policies and design of public spaces to improve quality of life of citizens through the implementation of new technologies and methods for e-governance, e-participation and future policy modeling", said Ms. Mennetrier.

The Mayor Mr. Ahmeti emphasized that the construction project of GIS geographic information system remains one of the main projects of the Municipality of Prishtina. "It has to do with placing all city information in one single system, which would enable us to manage much better with the resources that we have in Prishtina. The absence of such a system has a serious impact in adequate management and planning of Prishtina. With GIS systems, we will definitely build a system that further enables decision makers to accurately know how to guide the development of urbanism in Prishtina", said Mr. Ahmeti.

At the same time he pointed out that the Municipality of Prishtina has prepared twenty projects for creating urban green areas in unused open spaces. These projects are now being discussed with citizens, before being passed to the next implementation stage.

The Mayor Ahmeti emphasized that during the first year of his government 51 public discussions took place. He noted that there is a greater interest for public discussions by the citizens, who together with the Municipality of Prishtina decide on priority projects of their neighbourhoods.

FUPOL and Minecraft initiatives will provide additional opportunities to involve actively citizens of Prishtina in the shaping of their city and neighbourhoods.