Preservation of the Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage represents the framework of the urban plan for the town of Perast.

Perast is located on the south-western slope of the Sveti Ilija hill, opposite the Verige strait, the natural entrance into the inner Kotor-Risan basin of the branchy Bokokotorski Bay. The town of Perast is a protected urban area which is part of the Natural and Cultural-Historical Region of Kotor inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage list.

While preparing the Urban Project the practice that tends to mere formalization of the current state was abandoned, and priority was given to the revitalization of each segment of the heritage and to the reconstruction of resources. The aim of the Urban Project is revitalization of the town and it has been carried out through the principle of continuity at the level of individual buildings, groups and complexes, the complete picture of the town with the islands and the coastline, as well as at the level of the natural environment.

Both the tradition and historical values, protected buildings and the settlement unity are here in another angel, light and plan: continuity is an integral and vital part of today’s practice, and things of the past are precious corner elements in it, even less in space than in the approaches and attitude!

The Urban Plan has been based on the fact that the town of Perast has reached “its growth limits” and that it will not expand beyond the present scope. Crucially important is the attitude that the residential function should be kept in the town. In this respect, the Plan elaborates in more detail the program of facilities, tourism and central along with the infrastructural and utility equipment, as well as the regime of road and water traffic. It does not represent a new strategy of development, but respecting the principle of the town continuity, the tradition, modernity and the future –it functionally improves the existing structures by complementing the existing facilities with new compatible facilities with adequate capacities.

The Urban Design has established the principles of renewal, the rules for each form of intervention and the limits of possible development, based on evaluation of the architectural heritage through analysis of the physical structure and characteristics, the functions of the building, blocks and free spaces from the original texture over the phases of change to the existing state.

Urban project for the city of Perast (Montenegro), prepared by the team of  MonteCEP from Kotor, was awarded the first prize in the cathegory of urban projects at the XXI Salon of urban planning, organized by the Association of urban planners of Serbia in Leskovac 2012. Team leader and the author of this text is Zorana Milošević, Dipl. -Ing. Arch.