Getting Started An Urban Infrastructure Upgrade Project

Flamur Kuçi
Page No: 
825-834

Prior to 1990, the political and economic systems of Albania were highly centralized. The social and political changes of early 90s had to struggle harshly with the accumulated problems in decades. The economy of some regions, especially remote, mountains and rural areas, failed to meet the needs of local population. From the other side, west-coastal regions and big cities remained still attractive regarding to their employment and emigration opportunities. For this reason, main Albanian cities show high dynamics of population since 1990. Tirana’s population increased from 375,000 to almost 700,000 inhabitants. The forecast for the coming 15 years expect Tirana to grow over 1 million population. In the meantime, traditional urban plans of the city can not manage such dynamics, as they remained conservative and strict to old planning concepts. Actually, Tirana is mushroomed by new construction activities. In periphery of Tirana informal constructions now compound majority of constructions, lacking all basic infrastructure and services. The biggest area as such is Bathore/Kamez. The NGOs work mainly in areas with economic difficulties and social problems, trying to support collective welfare, especially to communities most in need. These organisation are concerned in urban development issues, trying to insert new and practical approaches to deal with the recent problems derived from the rapid urban growth. They have contributed seriously in raising and maintaining a public concern among professionals, authorities and citizens on urban development issues and is also. In the last 20 years, Tirana is living a critical period because of the negative effects of rapid urban growth. This growth concerns authorities, professionals as well as citizens. There is been a lot of discussions on the issue but really few actions are taken to tackle the problem. Actually due to the lack of experience and, in most cases, to a conservative mentality of professionals and institutions no real and feasible solutions are given.

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