Local Urban Plan of the Municipal Units of Valtetsi, Skiritida, and Falanthos of the Municipality of Tripoli
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 Municipal Units of Valtetsi, Skiritida, and Falanthos of the Municipality of Tripoli”.
The study being prepared for the Municipal Units of Valtetsi, Skiritida and Falanthos 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) of the Municipal Units of Valtetsi, Skiritida, and Falanthos, together with the adjacent LUP that includes the remaining Municipal Units of the Municipality of Tripoli, will constitute the primary strategic tool for the Municipality’s future development over the next 15 years; as such a significant and strategic study, it has been included in and is funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
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 natural environment of the Municipal Units under consideration, 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 Municipal Units of the Municipality of Tripoli under consideration fall within the network of influence of the Tripoli – Kalamata dipole. The settlements within the study area depend on the city of Tripoli for the provision of essential services. The geographical position of the study area shapes its unique identity, which is closely intertwined with the characteristics of mountainous and semi-mountainous regions. Extensive forested and mountainous expanses are identified within the study area, featuring sparsely distributed plots of agricultural land. Urbanization is limited, with settlements scattered throughout the mountainous and forested areas. A significant feature is the presence of seven traditional settlements (Alonistaina, Valtetsi, Vlachokerasia, Kerasia, Piana, Roeino, and Chrysovitsi). The extensive agricultural lands and pastures favor an agro-livestock orientation. Manufacturing activities primarily involve the processing of agricultural products from the primary sector and are developed either scattered or around the perimeter of the settlements. Scattered, point-specific tourism infrastructures as well as commercial services extend beyond the settlement boundaries, mostly in the western part of the area. Economic activity in the region is focused on supporting primary sector activities, services, and mild forms of 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).