Abstract
This chapter focuses on the transformation of the urban landscape in the Tirana–Durrës region to offer a historically contextualized analysis of the impact of post-communist policies and European programmes on the development of this area. It addresses three major factors. First, ordinary people’s access to the city’s public space and to previously restricted residential areas. Second, the impact of internal and external demographic movement and informal urbanization. Third, the role of the international community for the accomplishment of EU programmes, such as the construction of Corridor VIII and sustainable cities planning. The author suggests that the resulting outcome may well serve the interests of international political agendas but has problematic ramifications in terms of democratic citizenship rights and good governance.
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Notes
- 1.
The material analysed in this chapter suggests that such description would also apply to other major Albanian cities, like Durrës.
- 2.
Ottoman imarets could include mosques, inns, public baths and, if located along trading routes, caravanserais—–the latter were more usually found along the “silk road”.
- 3.
Notably among them, the Toptani family, who became one of the most prominent and influential families of Tirana in the nineteenth century. Their name is still associated with an area of the city and nowadays, as we shall see, with one of the multifunctional tower centres included in the new urban master plan of Tirana.
- 4.
Albania gained independence from the Ottomans in 1912. Initially, Durrës was designated as the country’s capital city. Later, Tirana was chosen as the capital city for its central location and as a compromise between the two major cultural groups; the Gheg in the North and the Tosk in the South.
- 5.
Early twentieth-century architects who embraced this concept proposed the creation of ‘garden city communities’ in metropolitan areas. Garden city communities were usually conceived as residential neighbourhoods surrounded by parkland and pasture.
- 6.
Such a ‘compact city’ would easily meet the needs of the city’s population. In 1923, Tirana had a population of 10,845 inhabitants, which by 1937 increased to 35,000.
- 7.
Noteworthy, ordinary citizens were forbidden from owing a private car. In the 1970s there were 600 cars in the whole of Albania. This contrasts quite sharply with the 300,000 cars that were registered in 2015 in Tirana alone.
- 8.
Following the administrative–territorial Reform of 2015, Tirana is now composed of 24 administrative units (mini bashki/njësi administrative), which include the 11 mini-municipalities (mini bashki) that existed before 2015, and 13 new territorial divisions (see, Pojani 2010a). The city of Tirana has become the biggest metropolitan area in Albania; it is the only city with a population of over 500,000 inhabitants.
- 9.
Edi Rama’s scheme aimed at making Tirana a dynamic “world class” city, comfortable for foreigners and the new Albanian élite and that could attract further investments.
- 10.
Since the collapse of communism, accusations of corruption (no matter whether they are proved or unsubstantiated) have become part of political competition (see Prato 2011).
- 11.
Agjencia e Legalizimit, Urbanizimit dhe Integrimit të Zonave/Ndërtimeve Informale (http://www.aluizni.gov.al/). Since its establishment, ALUIZNI has registered 350,000 demands for legalization of former illegal constructions. Of these, 80,000 are multi-function buildings that include residential apartments and shops.
- 12.
35% of Albania’s enterprises are located in the Durrës–Tirana region, 60% of foreign investments are made in this area, and it is estimated than one million people live in this metropolitan area.
- 13.
Elsewhere, I have analysed the geopolitical relevance of Corridor VIII for the European Transport Network with particular reference to Albania’s strategic position (Prato 2014). The Tirana–Durrës region plays a central role for the successful development of this route and is regarded as EU’s gateway to the East. It is expected that all infrastructures and multi-modal transport system of Corridor VIII (which includes sea and river ports) will be completed by 2028. The Corridor’s main route passes through Bari and Brindisi on the western Adriatic coast, Durrës, Tirana, Skopje and Sofia in the Balkans, Burgas and Varna on the Black sea. It links to Turkey through a branch leading to Greece along Corridor IV. Apart from this West-East Axis, as part of the expansion of the European Transport Network, a North-South axis will pass through Durrës. This is often referred to as the Adriatic-Ionian motorway that connects Croatia to Greece along the Adriatic and Ionian coastline.
- 14.
The 1991 Law on Land awarded land to citizens according to a system of ‘distribution’. The ‘restitution’ of land was regulated by a later Law passed in 1993.
- 15.
Albania’s GBP per capita is among the lowest in Europe.
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Prato, G.B. (2017). Changing Urban Landscape in Albania. In: Krase, J., Uherek, Z. (eds) Diversity and Local Contexts. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53952-2_2
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