Financing climate-resilient infrastructure: Kosovo explores Land Value Capture for better cities

Streets, parks, drainage systems, public transport corridors, schools, and resilient riverbanks are the kinds of investments that shape everyday life in cities. Yet across Kosovo, the need to deliver this infrastructure is growing faster than public budgets can keep up, especially as climate impacts intensify and urban areas expand. In February, institutions from central and local levels gathered in Prishtina to explore Land Value Capture (LVC) as one possible way to help close this gap: a planning-linked approach that can translate the “value uplift” created by public decisions into resources for public benefit.

Land Value Capture is a family of tools that enables governments to recover a portion of the increase in land and property values generated by public action. Put simply: when public investment or regulation increases private land value, part of that gain can be redirected to fund the infrastructure and services that made the area more valuable in the first place. Globally, LVC does not replace public finance; it complements it, most effectively where development is occurring, rules are clear, and institutions can implement measures transparently and predictably.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, a two-day workshop in Prishtina brought together key actors at the intersection of planning, finance, and implementation, including the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Office, and municipalities, alongside international and local technical experts to discuss on how LVC could be integrated into Kosovo’s legal framework and applied in practice. Participants reviewed international experience, assessed Kosovo’s planning and development context, and tested a shortlist of potential LVC instruments.

Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), co-financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), GIZ Kosovo supports climate-sensitive urban development and helps bring institutions together to discuss how planning tools can better connect to infrastructure financing. The workshop therefore focused less on debating technical “rates” and more on feasibility: what LVC could realistically look like in Kosovo in the short and medium term. Participants reviewed core concepts and international experience, then worked through Kosovo’s planning and development context to clarify roles, legal readiness, and the data and administrative conditions needed for transparent implementation.

Municipalities played a central role by bringing on-the-ground realities into the discussion, while central institutions focused on the legal and fiscal conditions needed to make any future approach workable, consistent, and accountable. By the end of the two days, participants had a clearer picture of the main opportunities and constraints, the enabling conditions that matter most, and the evidence the feasibility study should generate to support informed decisions.

This workshop marked the first step in a longer, structured process. The Feasibility Study on Land Value Capture for Kosovo will now move into deeper analysis, assessing Kosovo’s legal and institutional readiness, drawing lessons from international practice, and evaluating which options are most realistic and impactful. The outcome will be a phased roadmap that translates the discussion into actionable next steps, helping Kosovo connect spatial planning decisions with more resilient infrastructure investment and better outcomes for cities and communities.