Local Urban Plan of the Municipality of Metamorfosi (Municipal Unit of Metamorfosi)
On 16.04.2025, a Contract was signed between the Consortium “GAIA S.A. ΜΕΛΕΤΟΝ – D. MAMOUNIS AND Partners” – “TZIRINIS APOSTOLOS OF THEMISTOKLES” – “DELCO E.P.E. – N. DELIGIANNIDIS & CO. General and Specialized Consulting Engineers E.P.E.” – “GEORGIOS DIDASKALOU & CO. E.P.” with the registered office “GEOTER – DIDASKALOU E.P.” – “KONSTANTINOS, NIKOLAOS, DIMITRIOS CHATZIS O.E.” trading as “DKNDENGINEERS O.E.” and the Technical Chamber of Greece for the preparation of the study entitled ” Local Urban Plan of the Municipality of Metamorfosi (Municipal Unit of Metamorfosi)”.
The study being prepared for the Municipality of Metamorfosi is a first-level urban planning study under Law 4759/2020. It forms part of the “Konstantinos Doxiadis” Urban Planning Reform Programme, which aims to ensure the rapid and effective completion of spatial and urban planning across the country. The study is being developed in accordance with the new specifications for Local Urban Plans (Government Gazette B 3545/2021) and the revised urban planning standards (Government Gazette D 200/2024).
The Local Urban Plan (LUP) study is a complex process that includes, in addition to the main spatial planning study, a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the proposed spatial planning interventions, a Geological Suitability Assessment for newly designated urban development areas, as well as a study for the temporary demarcation study of streams and the accompanying topographic survey.
The Local Urban Plan (LUP) of the Municipality of Metamorfosi is harmonized with the guidelines of the Regulatory Plan of Athens – Attica (Law 4277/2014). According to the Regulatory Plan, the Municipality of Metamorfosi falls within the Athens – Piraeus Spatial Unit and specifically the Northern Athens Sub-unit, along with the Municipalities of Penteli, Kifisia, Pefki – Lykovrysi, Marousi, Psychiko – Filothei, Cholargos – Papagou, Nea Ionia, Irakleio, Vrilissia, Agia Paraskevi, and Chalandri.
According to the Regulatory Plan (R.P.), the Athens – Piraeus Spatial Unit remains an area of concentration for population, activities, and particularly metropolitan functions, characterized by a continuous urban fabric. A key priority is urban revitalization, which includes completing and upgrading urban infrastructure, giving precedence to the historic center, areas showing signs of urban degradation, aging building stock, and high densities. Furthermore, inequalities regarding access to social and urban facilities, as well as the quality of the urban environment, are encountered within the Athens – Piraeus Spatial Unit. A priority is the mitigation of these inequalities through the allocation of infrastructure in relation to population growth and its unequal distribution within the Spatial Unit, as well as through the improvement of the natural and built environment in lagging areas. In the Northern Athens Sub-unit, according to the R.P., its character as a residential, commercial, service, and recreation area is maintained. Meanwhile, a core guideline is the urban organization of these areas, primarily through land-use planning via the underlying levels of planning.
Through the Local Urban Plan, land uses will be defined so that the Municipality features updated use designations in accordance with Presidential Decree (P.D.) 59/2018—given that currently, it does not even possess a General Urban Plan (G.U.P.) under Law 2508/1997—along with building regulations across the entire territory of the Municipality of Metamorfosi.
The Local Urban Plan is the essential prerequisite for the future development of the Municipality of Metamorfosi, which will ensure a high quality of life for its residents, define the required actions and infrastructure projects with a 15-year horizon, and function as the primary tool for the comprehensive planning of the Municipality.
The main characteristic of the study area is the concentration of productive and commercial activities in the northern part of the Municipality. The area is strategically located along key road transport axes of national and international character. It is characterized by easy accessibility, while offering a high degree of connectivity with other areas of the Region, as well as the rest of the country, and with transport hubs. There is also a significant concentration of commercial activities and other private services within the residential area. Economic activity in the area is focused on supporting secondary and tertiary sector activities, with an emphasis on commerce and industry-manufacturing.
According to the requirements of the study and the technical specifications of the LUPs, cartographic representation is carried out using a Geographic Information System (G.I.S.). Therefore, appropriate GIS software was used for the preparation of the study, such as QuantumGIS (QGIS: http://qgis.org/), an open-source application in which the consortium has extensive experience, and which is used for creating, modifying, analyzing, and presenting geographic data. Within the QGIS user interface (as in other similar GIS programs), there is an area for displaying spatial data (map view) and an area for managing the map legend, where the names and symbols of the data are listed. The main advantage of QGIS (as well as other similar GIS programs) is its ability to import, visualize, manage, modify, and create data contained within a PostgreSQL database, in accordance with the PostGIS extension standard (both of which are also open-source applications).