Local Urban Plan of the Municipality of Gortyna (Municipal Units of Rouvas, Agia Varvara, Kofina and Gortyna)
On 06.07.2023, 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 Gortyna (Municipal Units of Rouvas, Agia Varvara, Kofina and Gortyna)”.
The study being prepared for the Municipality of Gortyna 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 LUP, the development potential of the study area will be identified, while land uses and building regulations will be defined across the entire extent of the Municipal Units under study, including all settlements. The plan will also determine potential needs for residential expansion, tourism development areas, zones for productive and economic activities, and other strategic land uses. In addition, it will set out the actions and infrastructure projects required to support the area’s sustainable development over a 15-year planning 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 (LUP) constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for the future sustainable development of the Municipality. It aims to ensure a high quality of life for residents, promote and protect the natural and cultural environment, create new opportunities for economic and investment activities, and serve as the key strategic tool for the overall spatial planning of the Municipality.
A significant characteristic of the Municipality is its agricultural activity, which is mostly linked to olive cultivation and occupies a substantial part of the rural area (e.g., Messara plain, arboriculture). Alongside the primary sector, the goal is to reinforce the tertiary sector, and specifically mild forms of tourism, by utilizing the natural environment (e.g., Asterousia Mountains, coastal front, Psiloritis Geopark), the cultural environment (e.g., archaeological sites, Archaeological Museum of Messara), and agricultural production.
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).