The Municipality of Pilea- Hortiatis is located in the Region of Central Macedonia and is a suburban municipality of the city of Thessaloniki. The Municipality of Pilea–Hortiatis was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of three former municipalities that became municipal units, namely Pilea, Hortiatis and Panorama, while the seat of the municipality is Panorama. It has 70.210 inhabitants (2011 Census) and it covers an area of 167.800 km2 representing 4.29% of the area of Thessaloniki. It has an urban, mountainous and coastal landscape since it extends from the lowland coastal area of Pilea to the mountain area of Hortiatis where the idle quarries are situated. The municipality is staffed with administrative employees of higher education responsible for the smooth operation of all administrative and technical tasks. The municipal staff has significant experience from the implementation of national and transnational projects funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds, as well as Interreg and other projects under Operational Programmes.