by Wouter van der Heijde

05 February 2008

Peja, Kosovo: As a spatial planner I love cities. They always develop plans but are never finished.

UN-HABITAT is the UN agency which is concerned with cities and mandated to promote their socially and environmentally sustainable development. In Kosovo, therefore, is the Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme to which I work as a volunteer. The programme is implemented in six cities around Kosovo, one of which Peja, in the west. This is my city. I love it! Situated at the foot of snow topped mountains, the small city along the river develops.

An urban development plan was done recently and many ideas for implementation are ready. My job is to assist the municipality to make the plan work. In many places the traffic situation can be improved. The plan for bus lines can be tendered and made available to the citizens. Also the quality of the public space can be upgraded.

It's a challenging moment to work on urban development as a new mayor is coming and Kosovo is moving forward. A lot of new building have be constructed in recent years. Investments are there, but how to guide them? For us planners, the task to steer the urban development in the right direction.

As a volunteer I try to be close to the people. Of course I bring my experience from abroad, but I can learn a lot in Peja as well. At least, I am not the international consultant who needs a large fee to work. As the key for making the plan work, is to support the new mayor directly in doing concrete things for his city, I hope there won't be a big barrier between us, which might be the case with some internationals.

Working as a volunteer is a renewed experience for me. It makes me rethink my work ethics. Why do I want to contribute to the urban development of Peja? For me it's about building trust and reciprocity among people.

So, in the end I hope the city of Peja loves me as much as I love the city.