Presentation of the 1st Phase of the Chania Local Urban Development Plan

On the 25th November 2015 the Planning Division of the Chania City organised an open event for the presentation of the 1st Phase (Phase A) of the “Revision and Expansion of the Local Urban Development Plan in the Municipalities of Chania, El. Venizelos, Therisos and Souda”, in which an interesting discussion was held, including queries and viewpoints expressed by a variety of stakeholders from the Municipality, Regional Authority and local agencies.

The current study has been commissioned to our company (leader) in consortium with Doxiadis Associates SA and the geologists Dr A. Pavlaki and Mr M. Lionis.

Coinciding with the presentation, a supplementary contract agreement has been signed for the conduct of the Local Urban Development Plan in the neighbouring Municipal Unit of Keramia, in order to promote the integrated spatial and urban planning of the new Municipality of Chania, as formed after the implementation of the “Kallikrates programme” which brought forward a major administrative reform in Greek Local Authorities. In this context, the Municipality of Chania is expected to be one of the first -and pioneering – municipalities in Greece, that will have a Local Urban Development Plan enacted for its entire, newly expanded, administrative territory (given that the Local Urban Development Plans for Municipal Units New KIdonia and Akrotiri are also being currently elaborated).

The Plan will be a key development “tool”, which will set the long term framework (15 years time horizon of the study) for the necessary studies, projects, institutional interventions and regulations, to promote the contemporary development potential of the study area, reflecting national and EU policies as well as sustainable development practices. Moreover, the Plan can help stimulate and diversify the local economy in the context of the current Greek economic crisis and the fiscal consolidation constraints, by making effective and efficient use of the region’s development prospects and particular local characteristics.