Local Urban Plan of the Municipality of Prespes (Municipal Units of Prespes and Krystallopigi)
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 Prespes (Municipal Units of Prespes and Krystallopigi)”.
The study being prepared for the Municipality of Prespes 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 goal of the study is to highlight the municipality’s natural environment, strengthen existing economic activities and develop new ones, upgrade the network of social and technical infrastructure, improve the quality of life for residents and visitors, and protect the areas from natural disasters.
Through the Local Urban Plan, the development potential of the areas will be identified, land uses and building regulations will be established across the entire territory of the Municipal Units under consideration as well as within settlements, any needs for residential expansions, tourism development areas, productive activity zones, etc., will be determined, and the required actions and infrastructure projects will be defined with a 15-year horizon.
Within the framework of the Local Urban Plan (LUP) study and in accordance with the new Presidential Decree regarding the boundary delineation of the settlements with a population under 2.000 inhabitants (Government Gazette D 194/2025), the Boundary Delineation / Re-approval / Re-delineation of the Municipalities’ settlements with a population under 2.000 inhabitants is also carried out, taking into account the criteria of the said Presidential Decree.
The Local Urban Plan constitutes the essential prerequisite for the future sustainable development of the Municipality, which will ensure a high quality of life for its residents, highlight and protect the natural and cultural environment, provide new possibilities and opportunities for activity development to investors, and function as the primary tool for the comprehensive planning of the Municipality.
The main characteristic of the study area is the extensive presence of zones protected under national and international frameworks. The area occupies a pivotal geographical position, as it is located between three countries (Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia). At the same time, as a border region, it faces phenomena of marginalization and population decline. However, its geographical position contributes to the formation of a unique identity, closely linked to the natural environment. Specifically, within its boundaries, there are extensive areas integrated into the Natura 2000 network, wetlands of international importance (Ramsar), as well as Landscapes of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Furthermore, the presence of cultural elements throughout the entire territory of the Municipality is significant, reinforcing the area’s identity and value. Economic activity in the region is focused on primary sector activities and tourism.
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).