Green cities, also known as sustainable or environmentally friendly cities, are urban areas designed and developed with a focus on minimizing environmental impact while promoting social and economic well-
being. These cities prioritize sustainable practices in various aspects, including energy consumption, transportation, waste management, green spaces and building design. Green cities aim to create a harmonious balance between human needs and the natural environment, striving for a healthier and better future for living.

The economic and social development of a society is accompanied by many changes that directly affect the environment. These changes, in addition to conveying a dynamism, also cause visible changes in the environment and many of these changes are negative. These changes directly affect the quality of life in the environment where we live, but also have a direct impact on the life of the citizen. Kosovo as a new state has great challenges in sustainable environmental planning and development. With economic growth, the focus of a society also changes. The rise of economic well-being influences society to seek sustainable development, better life and general commitment that all interested parties become part of the debate until the satisfactory solution of this problem.

Our capital, Prishtina, is a city that has a fast and dynamic development. This development also conveys many problems that challenge the local authorities and make the life of the citizen more difficult, and many processes and situations are a challenge in themselves. One of the main challenges are the green spaces, which in many aspects are deficient, misused or not well planned. We often have the impression that all those saplings and plants, including flowers for decorating the squares and spaces inside the center are planted “ad hoc”. It should be noted that since the end of the war until now there have been concrete activities and projects to increase the green spaces within the city and we have a more improved situation, where the citizen has a little more space where he can breathe more freely, but on the other hand other, rapid constructions, often without any adequate planning, have overwhelmed public spaces, including spaces dedicated to greenery.

During the last local elections for the capital, topics that directly relate to the quality of the citizen's life, concrete urban projects, the creation of green spaces within the existing spaces, the regulation of mobility, and apparently this was decisive in the outcome of these elections, dominated elections. This team that leads the capital for the first time has the moment to do more for the creation of new spaces, the increase of green spaces, to improve the urban arrangement as well as to make adequate solutions, taking into account the fact that the mayor of the municipality is an architect by profession and has extensive experience in this context. The municipality also has consultants who help in the various processes of project implementation, but there is not a sufficient number of professionals. As for the consultants and their limited commitment, it should be noted that the responsibilities fall on the municipal officials and are their exclusive competence and responsibility.

In order to exercise the functions defined by the legal provisions in force, the Directorate of Urbanism is organized in the following sectors: the Urbanism Sector, the Legalization Sector, as well as the Sector for
the protection of the environment and efficient energy. An interesting combination of academic life, professional life and management of this important sector was brought about precisely by the Director of Urbanism in the Municipality of Pristina, Mr. Arber Sadiki. Vehicles remain a key challenge for the authorities. The large presence of vehicles on the road leads to another problem, that of parking lots and their lack-of. Many of the families living in the capital have several vehicles at their disposal, but at the same time they do not have adequate parking spaces. During several decisions of the municipality to fix some of the parking lots in the respective neighborhoods, the municipality has encountered resistance from residents and businesses. Another challenge remains the lack of inter-institutional coordination. Often the decisions of the municipality come into conflict with the plans of different ministries or agencies that operate from the way the powers are arranged between them. Among the other challenges that are worth mentioning are inconveniently built walls in some locations. The municipal institutions are trying to reach a compromise so that these walls built during various turbulent periods of history can be demolished allowing the space to become accessible to the citizens. Until now, there have been several activities to regulate the circulation of vehicles in the center by stopping traffic and making some roads one-way, to reduce the number of vehicles. This has had certain effects and has gradually reduced the presence of vehicles in traffic. As part of this strategy, the increase of the squares in a certain time has also stopped the air pollution to a certain extent as well as noise pollution. Now we are at the stage when work is being done on the regulation of the issue of new schools, which is believed to further reduce the number of vehicles, especially during the time when the work of the institutions begins and the daily schedule ends.

The authorities expect a more proactive engagement in these matters from the Civil Society, which can play a very active role in filling the gaps where the authorities do not have the opportunity to operate. Many sectors of Civil Society now play an active role in many other spheres of society. It is a necessity for this important component of democratic life to be more proactive in the debate for more citizen- friendly cities as well as for a greener Pristina.

There are many concrete examples of how a citizen with his commitment can bring about change without expecting it from the institutions. The business community should also see environmental issues as a good investment potential and intervene where possible.

A positive example of an urban change is the Manifesta which was held in 2022 from July to October 30. The manifesto brought great interest inside and outside Kosovo. This organization uses the relationship
between culture, urban environment and civil society. This organization encourages debate between social life and the community. Manifesta, as an event repeated every two years, has managed to create a new comprehensive dimension of engagement and civic interest projects, an example of how agendas and civic interest can be advanced. The Local Public Enterprise “Hortikultura” is also known as a public enterprise which has made positive changes and tries to maintain parks and green spaces in the Municipality of Pristina.

With all the commitments so far, the capital still remains a challenge for the current leadership, but also for the future. Coordination among stakeholders to reach understanding and solve challenges has not yet reached optimization. Inter-institutional cooperation must be improved and have a dynamism that contributes to the solution of the problems faced by the citizen, this includes businesses that can
contribute to the concept of a circular economy as a new concept. Prishtina continues to have major challenging problems for local authorities. In conclusion, the municipality does not have sufficient human capacity to deal with all the problems. The biggest challenge will remain the regulation issue of vehicles and parking lots. In the end, it is worth emphasizing that the debates, round tables and talks on the issues mentioned above should be more frequent in order to raise awareness and actualize these problems that challenge the citizens as well as the local and central authorities. Pristina, our capital, belongs to everyone and we all must be part of the solution to the problem.