Transparency and effectiveness in Municipal Land Use
Marianna Posfai
The paper introduces the current status and challenges West-Balkan countries face related to land-use planning, loss of agricultural land and the growing number of illegal constructions. The situation in the last two decades has been characterized by inappropriate rural spatial planning, unsatisfactory transparency and unaccountability in land use. Lately, significant region-wide efforts were made by national and local governments for change by initiating the introduction of central spatial planning systems in order to control land management in urban and agricultural territories, and to ensure that land use is in compliance with the local laws and subject to public scrutiny. The success of such an approach is presented through Kosovo’s case, where experiences show that nationwide, modular, central e-planning, based on sound legal grounds can bring about dramatic changes in sound land use policies and in the everlasting struggle to combat informal settlements. The implementation of such a system can ensure effective planning and control of national and local land management practices; it can secure zones for agriculture - all of these in transparent and cost-effective fashion; thereby ultimately stimulating economic growth.
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