A Practical Proposal: Designing a Root Database for Expropriation Tracking in North Macedonia

Land expropriation is a critical and vital process underpinning infrastructure development and urban planning. However, less developed and developing countries, as well as those in transitional phases, often face challenges due to inadequate practices, including the lack of essential systems and standardized procedures. North Macedonia exemplifies this issue, as it currently lacks an official digital database for systematically tracking and managing expropriation–related data. This study proposes a basic and practical framework for establishing a centralized land expropriation database. Potentially, herewith is marking the onset of a new era in the development of a robust and consolidated database, with North Macedonia as a case study. The database design is anchored in the Property Sheet, regarded as the foundational document for the land expropriation process and procedures. It is complemented by the geodetic elaborate for expropriation, which initiates the land expropriation process. Contributions from relevant state institutions involved in land expropriation processes further enrich the structured database. Initially developed in Excel, the system integrates Python–based applications to enhance functionality for data entry and data search, providing a cost–effective solution aimed at improving transparency, accuracy, and institutional coordination. This study offers a replicable model for monitoring land expropriation processes and highlights the critical importance of digital transformation in modernizing land management systems. It establishes a foundation for the development of a comprehensive, real–time, and multi–institutional system to establish a unified database and control mechanism for land expropriation in the Republic of North Macedonia.