In the Mayor’s Office of Town Ludbreg, the first meeting on the development of the Ludbreg´s Landscaping Strategy was held. The strategy will be developed within the frames of the project “Development of strategic cross-border cooperation between Letenye, Ludbreg and Prelog”, approved for co-financing under the Interreg V-A Cooperation Program Hungary Croatia 2014-2020.

Landscaping is becoming one of the ways of how to plan modern urban and rural environment and thus the imperative of behaviors of local governments. Landscape design refers to the protection of natural and cultural resources, to the rational use of land, protection and restoration of historical sites as well as to organization, design and construction of new landscapes. With this aim Ludbreg is moving towards the development of a landscape strategy through which potential restoration or landscape maintenance will be planned and as well the arrangement of cultural and historical landscapes such as parks, natural sites and other public areas.

“Strategic planning relates to landscape design and it implies active communication between all stakeholders and citizens who are the main actors in the development of strategies. Consequently, the development of Ludbreg’s landscaping strategy will be a comprehensive process involving citizens, experts in landscape design, architecture and local government, said Petra Međimurec, DESCO project manager. She also added that the advantage of making a landscape strategy is that it is possible to define locations of particular interest to citizens, whether they are urban or suburban areas that can easily include private and public spaces, parks, gardens, streets, squares, residential settlements, tourist, economic or industrial complexes.

The landscape strategy planning will be based on analyzing and description of areas by key sectors, on determination of reference points in Ludbreg and on defining visions and key goals that will be achieved through clear and precise measures and activities. “What I want to achieve with this strategy is to design landscapes and places of special importance for the citizens of Ludbreg, to plan adequate regulations, to define implementation aspects and sources of funding. Ultimately, through this strategy we will get a list of strategically important projects that will be developed in cooperation with the citizens. So I can say that a special kind of contribution to strategic planning will be given from citizens of Town Ludbreg because they will be encouraged to give their comments, ideas and suggestions and to participate in the research and workshops that will be carried out in the next 5 months. This will ensure the participation of various stakeholders, especially citizens”- said Mayor Dubravko Bilić.