Mark Spaan_TIRANA_The informal city and it's public space

TIRANA

The informal city and it's public space

Tirana - Albania 2017-09-20 Graduation - Mark Spaan

Colophon Author: Mark Spaan University: Academy of Architecture Amsterdam Study: Master Landscape Architecture Head-department: Maike van Stiphout Mentor: Bram Breedveld Commission: Francesco Garofalo Lodewijk van Nieuwenhuijze Date: 2017-09-20 Contact information: tel: +31 (0)6-39765599 mail: markspaan@gmail.com Copyright Š 2017 by M. Spaan All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.

CONTENTS

Photo;TiranĂŤ, Albania 1991, Nikos Economopoulos

Preface Tirana

Location History Urban structures Issue’s of the informal city Masterplanning

Brief Research Scale Beauty of waste Learning from paradise The resident Strategy Site Developement strategy Economy Water

8 12 13 14 16 19 32 36 40 40 46 48 52 55 56 58 63 68

Paradise Programmatic design Masterplan Elements Public production park River park Recycle park Streets Pockets Toolbox Tirana 2017-2040 Sources

72 74 76 81 83 90 96 104 112 120 122 126

5

Amsterdam

Flight time 02:40

Tirana

Photo informal neighborhood - Tirana 2016

8

PREFACE

The landscape architecture firm I currently work for, BOOM Landscape, works mostly in foreign countries. The most interesting country where we have worked so far is Albania. The first project BOOM Landscape realized in Albania was Cape Square.

After that we have started to work more and more on different projects in Albania.

The country is at a point where the future is still open and there is a strong urge for developelopment. This makes it interesting to work as a (landscape) architect/ urbanist in Albania.

These positive established relationship and big opportunities made me want to do my graduation project based on Albania. During my search for potential projects I came in contact with Michiel van Driessche from Felixx. He pointed me towards Tirana river.

Photo Blerta Kamboo; Cape Square - DurrĂŤs 2015

The Tirana river flows through the northern part of Tirana. This river is a typical project for a landscape architect, dealing with problems on water-management, ecological, pollution and social level. With this in mind I have travelled during the summer 2016 to Albania. During this visit I founded out that the government started that year with development of the river.

But during my stay in the informal part of the city I came across a different kind of problems. Informal part of the city means that the citizens took the liberty to build their houses in this area without an official permit. When I was talking with inhabitants of the neighbourhoods, they never talked about the river but always about the risk of being removed out of their houses because of the city development.

This development is required to tackle several problems in the city, for example water and waste management. Even if it is required to develop the city, it is socially and economically unacceptable to demolish the houses of the inhabitants even though they made their houses illegally.

This triggered me to think of a different kind of project. How can we develop the informal city area in a smarter and more social way while still tackling the bigger issues of the city?

Photo Michiel van Driessche; TiranĂŤ River - Tirana 2015

Photo TiranĂŤ River - Tirana 2016

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12

TIRANA

Albania is located along the Adriatic Sea just above Greece. This location next to Balkans and a little bit closer to Turkey makes it a strategic location between Europe and the east. At this time Albania is a canditate member of the European Union.

The country is reachable with a direct three hours flight from the Netherlands. Compared to the Netherlands, Albania is half its size with roughly a fifth of the population. Most of the people live in the capital city Tirana and the second biggest city Durrës.

Inhabitants Size land Average density

The Netherlands 16,9 41.500 407

Albania 3,5 million 28.750 km2 121 inh/km2

Inhabitants Size land Average density

Amsterdam 838.338 165 5058

Tirana 610.070 inh.

41,8km2 10.078 inh\km2

Tirana is a very compact city, this is due to its history as a communistic country. Compared to Amsterdam the communist centre of Tirana is roughly the same size as the old city and canals of Amsterdam.

A’dam

Tirana

Despite being compact it is also densely populated, especially in the city centre where people live in 8 to 10 stories high apartment houses.

100 km The Netherlands Scale comparison The Netherlands/ Albania 16.9 million inhabitants 41.500 km² 407 inh/km

Amsterdam 1:100.000

Albania 3.5 million inhabitants 28.750 km² 121 inh/km

Tirana 1:100.000

Left page: Picture by Nikos Danilidis 2015 13

HISTORY OF TIRANA

Pre war era, 1400-1939

The first appearance of Tirana is in Ottoman records around 1400 as a small settlement. During most of its history it never grew bigger than a small settlement mainly consisting out of farmers. This all changed in 1920. After Albania gained independence in 1912 the government wanted a neutral and central place to rule from, this place was Tirana. After this decision was made Tirana grew from a settlement to a small city.

World war era, 1939-1946

During the period before the World War Italy already had a lot of influence in Albania, in 1939 Fascist Italy occupied Albania including Tirana, and eventually the Nazi’s took over.

During this time the city saw its first master planning and city development began. Like in many cities the central axe was developed with all the public buildings alongside it. The rest of the city was organised and extended with a grid city.

Communist era, 1946-1991

When the German empire collapsed, the communist party rose to power. During the rule of the communist leader Enver Hoxa Albania became the most isolated country in Europe. All aspects of life where strictly regulated.

This is also reflected in the city planning. The communists extended the Italian plans with a ring road around the city. Outside the city big industrial complexes where created along the river and railroads. For recreation purposes Tirana lake park was developed around an artificial lake.

14

Capitalist era, 1991-present

After the fall of the communist leadership in 1991 Albania became a republic. The first years where very unstable which ended in severe riots in 1997 after the ponzi schemes fall down. Currently Albania is more or less stable democratic country.

The fall of communism and the chaos afterwards is reflected in the urban structure. A lot of Albanians moved to Tirana in hope for a better future and built their houses informally around the city, due to the a lack of housing and urban planning in general in the beginning of the Republic. This is how informal outer city neighbourhoods was created.  

PRE WAR ERA 1400-1939

1400 First mention of Tirana in Ottoman records

1912 Principality of Albania 1920 Tirana made capital 1925 Albania Republic 1928 Albanian Kingdom Map of Tirana 1919 x10.000 inhabitants

WORLD WAR ERA 1939-1946

1939 Fascist occupation Map of Tirana 1959 x10.000 inhabitants

COMMUNIST ERA 1946-1991

1946

People’s Rebuplic of Albania People’s Socialist Republic of Albania

1976 Map of Tirana 1988

x10.000 inhabitants

CAPATALIST ERA 1991-present

1991 Rebuplic of Albania 1997 Ponzi’s scheme riot Map of Tirana 2015 Informal growth

x10.000 inhabitants

15

URBAN STRUCTURES

Capitalist Era The informal expension of the city

Communist Era The compact city rings

World War Era The central axis

18

ISSUE'S INFORMAL CITY

25 years the city has been growing with no or few guidelines from the municipality. Looking for a better future people from all over Albania came to Tirana. These people squeezed their plots in between the existing housing and industries surrounding the city.

Even though the houses the squatters build on the plots are of descent quality there are all sorts of problems on the bigger scale - such as water and waste management, ownership conflicts and pollution.

T=0

For this project a selection of problems is explained and addressed in the following development strategy.

T=1

T=2

T=3

Left page: Photo Informal city - Tirana 2016

Diagram growth model informal housing area

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Ratio public and private

All the unused land between the industrial sites and the city centre are squatted by Albanians who came to find a better future in the capital. On these squatted lots they made their houses and gardens, without leaving space for public elements.

Now the informal neighbourhood consists mainly out-of-roads and housing plots. Public life is taking place on the streets as there is no other space available. This is the start of the many other problems in the neighbourhoods.

Photo of the build area in the informal neighborhood - Tirana 2017

20% Public

Infographic of relation public private in example informal neighborhood between Rruga Illiria and Rruga Azem Galica ~1200 inhabitants

20

80% Private

Lack of public space

In Tirana and specifically in the informal neighbourhoods there is a lack of recreational space.

There are almost no football fields or playgrounds.

The two main parks in the city are both located along the central axis of Tirana, which is over one hour walking from the informal neighbourhoods.

As a result, people do not go outside or play/ recreate on the streets.

Photo of the ‘public area’ in the informal neighborhood - Tirana 2017

Parks

Squares

Map of recreational space of Tirana 1:50.000

21

Lack of public green

Most of Tirana is a build-up area, however there is still a lot of green in the city. There are small green plots, such as gardens of the inhabitants but also bigger ones around hospitals, universities and other public buildings.

Unfortunately, almost all of these green areas are not accessible for public.

The only big green structure in the city where people can escape the busy city live is at Tirana lake park.

Photo Kukushiedi from wikimapia.org, Private green from Spitali-Ushtarak

Public green

Private green

Map of green space of Tirana 1:50.000

22

Water drainage problems

In Tirana it rains one and half time more than in Amsterdam. Combined with the fact that it falls in shorter bursts it creates high peaks of rainwater in the city.

This generates water problems in whole Tirana because there are not enough permeable grounds, since most ground is either paved or built. Streets are flooded yearly just as the houses nearby Tirana river.

Additional problem is that sewers are flooded as well, due to the low capacity, endangering public health and drinking water.

Photo by LSA/Malton Dibra - Tirana November 2016

Source: worldweatheronline.org

23

Spaces claimed by the car

The car in Albania, as in many other ex-communist countries, is a status symbol. When people can afford a car the buy them and use them to drive through the city.

The city was not originally designed for big amount of cars and is daily congested and polluted. As a consequence the roads are only build for cars and not for cyclists and/or pedestrians even in the areas where there are more people walking than driving.

Besides occupying the roads the cars also claim space for parking in the scarce public domain.

Photo of the claimed public space by cars- Tirana 2017

Source: exit.al

24

Disconnected Infrastructure

The infrastructure of the informal city is based on the existing roads built during communist era. Next to that there are two typical informal infrastructures, first one straight roads parallel to each other, the second one is structured like a vein.

Both of these structures tend to end in dead ends making it very hard to move through the city.

Short walks can easily quadruple in time when a squatter decide to make his house in the middle of the street, creating two dead ends.

Photo of the one of the many dead ends in Tirana - Tirana 2017

Map of dead ends in Tirana excluding alley’s 1:50.000

25

People live behind walls

The typical house in informal neighbourhoods is constructed following the Elbasani model, consisting of a small walled plot with a (vegetable) garden and a house with one floor per family.

They are growing in size when more than one family moves in the house. Most houses have a good quality.

The wall around the plot is mostly built for safety reasons, because there are no eyes on the streets from the houses people perceive them as unsafe. Starting a downwards spiral, as the view on the streets gets less.

Photo of the walled gardens in the informal neighborhood - Tirana 2017

Plots and houses

Infographic of the plots and walls in example informal neighborhood between Rruga Illiria and Rruga Azem Galica ~1200 inhabitants

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Walls

One story per family

Fruit producing garden

Walled garden

Illegal claimed plot

Infographic of Elbasani informal house model

27

Pollution

Tirana is the most polluted city in Albania. Almost every type of pollution is presented in the city; noise, air, water, waste and ecology in general.

Air pollution is caused by old cars still being used and the industry sites located in the city. The pollution is almost reaching toxic levels daily in summer when the smog doesn’t move.

Another big problem is the ecological awareness paradox of Albanians. On one side, they love to be in the nature and in the cleanest places, on the other side they throw away their garbage almost everywhere except designated locations. Especially at rivers waste is dumped, with the idea it will flush away.

This causes major problems downstream of the river, where the farmlands are.

Photo of the pollution next to Tirana river - Tirana 2017

Source: numbeo.com

28

Big industries in the city

During communist era industrial sites where placed outside the city, but now the city has expanded and these facilities are located within the informal neighbourhoods.

This is causing hindrance for both parties: on the one hand, the sites are badly reachable through the neighbourhoods and on the other hand: industrial areas create a lot of waste, noise and air pollution around its sites.

Photo of truck riding through living neighborhood towards industrial site - Tirana 2017

Map of big industrial sites in Tirana 1:50.000

29

Lack of water supply

Even though the government claims that 80% of the houses in Albania are connected to running water there are lots of people on the street collecting water from big water trucks, especially in informal neighbourhoods.

Privatising of the water supply didn’t give the needed improvements and most of the water keeps leaking away or is contaminated.

Photo of citizen getting water from water truck - Tirana 2017

Source: Albanian Regulatory Authority of the Water Supply erru.al

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31

MASTERPLANNING

Grimshaw Tirana 2015

Stefano Boeri & UN lab - Tirana 030 2017

In the past decade a lot of masterplans were made for Tirana by famous architects to tackle the problems in the city and to regain the grip on the city’s development. Until now none of these master plans were executed. The competition winning masterplan from Grimshaw has stranded after the demolishment of the train station, which was the first step of the their plan.

There are four main reasons why these kinds of master plans don’t work in Tirana.

1. Geopolitics Every four years there are elections which generally are won by the opposing party. When it comes to power new party dismisses the planning from the previous governing party. This is best seen on the example of Skanderbeg Square, which has seen three phases in twelve years.

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NL Traditional

STATE

MUNICIPALITY

POLICY

DEVELOPERS

PLANS

PROJECTS

END USER

PROJECTS

END USER

ALB Post Communism/ Capitalism 1991-2000

STATE

MUNICIPALITY

DEVELOPERS

ALB Capitalism 2000-2017

STATE

BOTTOM UP ENERGY IS LOST MUNICIPALITY

POLICY

DEVELOPERS

PLANS

PROJECTS

END USER

Simplified planning structures in Albania

2. Finance All of these plans rely on financing for European Union and the World Bank. Ever since Albania became a country in transition instead of a developing country in 2004, funds are getting lower and it becomes harder to execute large scale plans.

3. Detailed plans All the plans tend to focus on Tirana as a whole and project ideas are concerning the city on a large scale. This generates beautiful images and inspirational ideas, but the plans are lacking any concrete/ detailed planning. The ambitious vision never lands in actual projects.

As an example, in Tirana 030 there are some great ideas about a forest/ city edge, but they didn’t make any plans or policy on how to realize it.

4. Planning structure After two decades of a bottom up approach by the citizens it’s hard to return to a top down approach., especially with the communist era in mind. The fact that the plans always suggest to demolish something first before building does not make the situation any better. It is no surprise that the citizens will always be against any projects that start with ignoring their needs and eviction suggestions.

If municipality wants to regain the grip on the city’s development they have to use another approach on masterplanning then the traditional one. They need to consider masterplannning that suggests more interactions with citizens, has a flexible and peopleoriented nature and most importantly is practical.

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34

35

BRIEF

“How can the city Tirana develop the public space in the informal city by using the local qualities and energies and solve the issues existing on the city level?”

Tirana is collapsing under serious problems caused by city’s uncontrolled growth for the last decades. Tackling the explained problems in broad and large-scale masterplanning has proven to be unsuccessful.

In order to solve these issues a new specific approach for masterplanning is required in the city of Tirana. Instead of ignoring the informal city it should be the starting point. Its condition, history and specific qualities will be used to generate new engines and solve existing problems on the city level.

The central question in this project is: “How can the city Tirana develop the public space in the informal city by using the local qualities and energies and solve the issues existing on the city level?”

The brief is approached from the viewpoint of a landscape architect working in the public domain, and looking for a solution in a natural, logical and humane way. According to this approach the suggested interventions are mainly concern the public space.

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Study area

To seek potential answers to this brief research has been done in four different fields: 1. Spatial 2. Strategy 3. Program 4. Users

Scale of potential interventions Reference of spatial networks Developing strategy Phasing Green Social Economic Social/cultural aspects of Albania Economic situation

4th Green ring

New car ring

For testing out potential strategies there is a defined study area in the north-western part of Tirana. The scale of this neighbourhood is big enough to introduce structures and small enough to understand the structure completely.

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SCALE INTERVENTIONS

Photo of alleys, from left to right, old situation, renovation, renovated - Tirana 2017

Not all projects in Tirana end as the masterplans.

There are several types of intervention that are actually being executed on regular basis. The government is slowly renewing the streets in the whole city, and not only the main streets but the whole street network. The government received a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development specifically for streets renovation.

Unfortunate this redesign of the roads is only focussed on cars, but with a small change in the execution that adds more focus on pedestrians this would be really powerful ongoing transformation to use in the planning of the informal city.

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Photo Xhamlliku square - Tirana 2017

Another type which executed on regular basis is the renovation and reclaiming of public space.

These projects have a defined project scale, such as a square, park or boulevard. For example the Xhamlliku square, which has been renovated in the Tirana Play! project. In this project the square has been cleaned from kiosks making room for the inhabitants to play, meet and recreate. We also see that the space is frequently used and works well because of the coffee places, shops and playground around its edges.

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SCALE NEIGBOURHOOD

Blijdorp - Rotterdam Area 140 ha Inhabitants 16.845 (14% within 0-15 years) Density 120 inh/ha

Indische wijk - Amsterdam Area 135 ha Inhabitants 22.935 (20% within 0-15 years) Density 170 inh/ha

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Park Sportfield Playground Cafe(‘s) Supermarkt/ shopping area School Urban farming

Laprakë - Tirana Area 145 ha Inhabitants 18.000-22.000 (estimate) Density 125-150 inh/ha

To give a sense of a scale of the study area and the available services Laprakë is compared to two comparable neighbourhoods in The Netherlands, Blijdorp in Rotterdam and Indische wijk in Amsterdam.

The Dutch examples have both a dense network of small public spaces and services, like playgrounds, throughout the neighbourhood. This smaller network is supplemented with one large park which has high attraction level for the whole city.

Compared to that, there is almost no public space in Laprakë and/or services like playgrounds. The only

services available are commercial ones like cafes and restaurant. This services are focused on the roads and not connected to public spaces.

Both Dutch neighbourhoods function really well and public space has big influence on that. The Indische wijk used to be a no go area, which is completely turned around with introducing public spaces such as playgrounds, sport fields and squares. This network of small public space is more than viable option to implement in Laprakë in order to improve the neighbourhood.

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THE SCALE OF 5%

The informal neighbourhoods are completely privatised with housing plots. Because of this there is no space available for potential development of public space.

Which forces the government to evict people and claim the land back for development. But what if all the owners voluntary give 5% back to the government?

total area 520.500m2 5% 26.025m2

After rearrangement of the acquired land this 5% is more then enough for creating new roads through the neighbourhood. This rearrangement can be done buying and selling plots by the neighbours. With this bigger spaces can be created for small public spaces.

Private area developed to public space ~24.500m2 Infographic of the potential of 5% rule in example informal neighborhood between Rruga Illiria and Rruga Azem Galica ~1200 inhabitants 45

THE BEAUTY OF WASTE

Urban Mining: Marc Angélil, Rainer Hehl, ETH Zürich Heliópolis, São Paulo

In Albania there is a huge waste problem, people dump their waste on the streets and near the river without thinking about the consequences. The only people who recycle are the plastic collecting Roma’s .

In other countries waste is more and more seen as a potential raw material. In the Urban mining project waste is collected, separated and reused as

46

Stone Cycling Amsterdam

much as possible in building material, compost or recycled in different way. This generates money and creates jobs but also a switch in mentality, since waste becomes a valuable good. Such a change in mentality would be one of the best things that could happen to Albania.

in this is the Dutch company Stone Cycling with makes bricks from different kinds of waste. Due to the different source materials brick stones get their own unique look and feel.

To make this happen it would be good to showcase the beauty of waste. One project which succeeds

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LEARNING FROM PARADISE

TIRANA THETH

SHKODER

DAJTI MOUNTAIN

Tirana DURRES

TIRANA

POGRADEC BERAT

TIRANA LAKE PARK

VLORE

GJIROKASTER ALBANIAN RIVERA

BUTRINT

Paradises around Albania and Tirana

Albanians are outdoor people, they love to be outside and surround themselves by green. In the city a lot of them go to Tirana lake park or take a car to one of many nature paradises in the countryside.

In these paradises they desire the qualities that are absent in the city such as fresh air. Places they visit have strong planting, seasonal appeal and variation between open and closed spaces.

In the outdoor space they like to meet up with friends and family for sports, relaxing, eating and

drinking. Almost all of their social life is taking place outdoors. This makes it more and more unfortunate that there are no adequate places within the city, especially when most of the suburb paradises are not easy to reach or are not affordable for everyone.

To create better living conditions and attractive public spaces this feeling of green oasis should be pulled into the city. These areas should be reachable for everyone who feels the need to escape the pressure of the city.

Photo Gijpe canyon beach, popular daytrip under Albanians - HimarĂŤ 2016

Photo Syri I Kalter, popular daytrip under Albanians - SarandĂŤ 2016

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Places Dajti mountain

Albanian rivera

instagram #viajando_por_ahi

Syri i KaltĂŤr

instagram #frankdema

Food

instagram #visite_tirana

Çaj Mali

ByrĂŤk

instagram #veganinspiredvibes

Kafe

instagram #aurel_duka

Activities

instagram #albahysaj

Urban fitness

instagram #bashkiatirane

Sports

Meeting

instagram #deluciadario

Oasis Fresh air Adventures Seasonal Strong planting Conclusus/ aperuit Outside people Tirana lake park

instagram #brunildagoga

Osumi canyon instagram #stella._.plaku

Proud Local Quality Family Meeting

Uka farm

instagram #elonaduro

Charlie & Max

instagram #egli.haxhiraj

Football Proving Staying fit Cooling Gambling Hiking Playing

instagram #kiyomilove5

Swimming

THE RESIDENT

Average income in Albania is for one family 545400 ALL or 400 EU, while the average expenses are higher - 69442 ALL or 512 EU. Thus a typical family does not earn enough to cover basic expenses. Most of the time this is covered by family members who live abroad in the European Union. It is a worrying factor that the biggest expenses are food and drinks, which in the past years also increased the fastest in price.

After re-election of Edi Rama, Albanian Prime Minister, in summer of 2017 this problem is considered as one of the most important topics to address. It is crucial to solve it, as in the future it will get worse because of big and growing group of unemployed youth under 30 . You see young people hanging on the streets everywhere during the day.

For the living quality it’s important to lower general expenses, to increase people’s income and get more people employed.

44%

Source: INSTAT 2014 www.instat.gov.al

Employment rate Unployment rate Not working

55,9% 15,6% (youth 28,9%) 28,5%

Each household has 1.5p avaible labour Source: INSTAT 2016 www.instat.gov.al

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STRATEGY

Urban structure is unfinished/ not designed causing major connecting issues

Regular rainwater flooding due low bad sewage systems and low amount of permeable grounds.

Available space is mostly privatized, without any space for public activities

Lack of space for recreational activities, such sports and playgrounds within the informal city.

The city has major air pollution and waste pollution due a lack of eco awareness and coping system

Lack of income and high basic expenses for the inhabitants of the informal regions.

In the past there where attempts to solve these problems separately from each other with little results. Integral approach might have the highest potential to solve these issues, as linking the problems together creates potential solutions. As an example, transforming waste into products would reduce the waste and increase the income.

Not only linking the issues together but also looking at the potentials of the informal neighbourhood can lead to solutions. The following qualities exist: - There is available space and it only needs to be claimed - Good quality of existing buildings - High self-organizing power - Available labour force - Rich tradition to use outside space - Rich tradition of foods and drinks - Pride of being Albanian By applying these qualities to the described issues an integral and feasible approach will be created in order to renew the informal city and help it reach its full potential.

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SITE Abondend railroad

Tirana river

City ring towards central Tirana

Highway towards Airport and Durrës

New city ring towards Kamëz

New city ring towards north Tirana

4th green ring

New city ring towards south Tirana and Elbasan

Map Laprakë including future development of the ringroad and 4th green ring

The study site is framed by the Tirana river, infrastructure network and the 4th green ring.

In this project two elements of the masterplan of Tirana 030 are integrated in the base. First one is the 4th green ring and the second one is the new ring road. The ring road is optimized relative to the masterplan. Instead of cutting through the whole

56

neighbourhood it follows the existing road and then cuts through the industrial area where there is more space available. In this area mainly northern Albanians live, they work in Tirana city centre which is 20 minutes walk away or 20 minutes by car in a traffic jam.

Informal area

The area is mixed with both informal and formal housing areas. The informal has occupied all the space between the river, industrial areas and formal housing

Industrial areas

Surrounded by the informal area are some industrial areas from the communist era and in the center one hospital. Some of these industrial sites already have been abandoned.

Potential sites

There are two types of potential sites. First one are the now partly abondend industrial sites. In the near future it is realistic the other ones move as well to better suited sites, with this some big spaces come available. Second potential sites are left over space between the formal and informal housing.

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DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Start - Claiming existing empty plot between the formal and informal houses.

Step 1 - Making pilot public production park, with recreational spaces, work spaces and natural spaces.

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Step 2 - Making connecting lines to the park. To bring water for the factory/ green and people for the labour and recreation. Food production in the park flows back to the producers living in the neighborhood

Step 3 - Developing other public production parks, with other economic productions and different recreation functionals. Including main transport lines.

Step 4 - Connecting parks to each other through the transportlines and densifying the public network, connecting more houses to the public space network.

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Step 5 - Activate bottom up power of the inhabitants and entrepeneurs to develop pockets with materials generated in the local productions parks using the 5% rule to create space.

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Step 6 - Connecting the bigger structures of Tirana, the Tirana river and 4th new green ring. Through the new public network. Developing Tirana river to a large public production park

3 4 1 2

5

Step 7 - Creating a park, in size comperable to Westerpark in Amsterdam, for the city through step-by-step growth module

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THEMATIC BROADING

ECONOMY

WATER

PARADISE

In the development strategy, beside public space, there are three main themes: economy, water and paradise. In these themes issues such as pollution, water management and a lack of recreational green areas are addressed in an integral and smart way.

Inclusion of public into the program ensure its success and feasibility.

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ECONOMY

WASTE PRODUCERS

WASTE TYPES

WASTE USERS

HOUSE HOLDS

NURSERY

PRODUCTION FIELDS

URBAN FARMS

Plastic

CONCRETE FACTORY

CONSTRUCTION SITES Metals

Rest

BRICK FACTORY

RECYCLE FACTORY OUTSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD Scheme of recycle elements

Waste is now seen as just waste but if you look at it as a potential raw resource the informal neighbourhood becomes rich in materials. It can come from the local households, constructions sites, gardens etc. When separated, simple waste can be recycled inside the neighbourhood and more complex waste can be sold to recycling factory outside the city.

Simple waste is bio waste, which can be recycled as compost in farms and gardens. Simple waste is also stones, construction materials - these can be grinded down and reused in brick material.

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EMBODIED ENERGY MINERAL WASTE

Clay

Aggregate

grinded

LEMON JUICE

LEMONIEST

TIRANA’S

HOUSE HOLDS

BRICK RECYLE Stone cycling Another brick

unused labour of the household

CLAY BRICKS

SC A

NEW POCKETS, GARDENS

S ION LL

AZY CR

Space

'S

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Small factories can be created in order to recycle waste in informal neighbourhoods. In these factories recycling can be done in a simple way, without creating unnecessary complexity for the neighbourhood.

Four elements are required for the recycling process. First one is base material, which is acquired from recycling the waste. Second element

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RANA

M SE A

New brand for Tirana produced food and elements

LEMONIEST

LEMON JUICE

.

RY TI

TIRAN A

. RO S TIRANA’S ' M SE A

.

RY TI

AZY CR

S ION LL

'S

SC A

.R 'S O

RANA

TIRAN A

Production scheme of recycling of embodied mineral waste to clay bricks

is labour, people who live around the factories can come and work there to earn extra income. Third is water, water is in abundance during winter months, when stored it can be available along the whole year for the manufacturing. Fourth is space for the factories. This space can be found in the new parks.

By adding economical functions to the parks increase their feasibility of being created. Due to

Input streams of the factories

low dynamics of these recycling factories they can easily share space with recreational area and water storage, thus acquiring multiple functions.

With this recycle factories in place, most of the waste stays inside the neighbourhood and is being reused as building materials and food. This will lead to the decrease in expenses for an average family.

In case of overproduction the end product can be

sold to other people generating additional income.

The sale of recycled products will be done under a brand name to promote the recycle industry and make the inhabitants proud on their neighbourhood!

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Output streams inside the neighborhood

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Output streams outside the neighborhood

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WATER

RAIN

1 - Making water visible

2 - Collecting rainwater

3 - Evaporating

4 - Buffering and infiltration

5 - Using water for new economics

6 - Cleaning the river banks

To solve the water management problems in the informal neighbourhood and redirect water to the production factories a six steps approach is proposed.

1. Making the water visible again. Instead of using the overloaded sewage for water drainage the water is drained above ground on the streets.

These waterlines are then used to guide people to the parks and also as a design element in the road design.

2. Rainwater from the building is collected and drained on the streets instead of the sewage systems. By taking the load from sewage systems floods problems during heavy rainfall are avoided, thus avoiding pollution of the rainwater with sewage water.

3. Evaporating. Next to heavy rainfalls in winter Tirana has hot summers. By using trees to evaporate

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abundant water the city can cool down.

4. Buffering and infiltration. Along the route in pockets and parks water is infiltrated and buffered for later use to reduce the burden on the draining capacities of the river and urban texture.

5. Using water for new economics inside the parks for production of materials and food. This can be done to lessen the load on the overall water system.

6. Cleaning the rivers banks. The river bank consists out of several levels. The main stream and summer bank are free is obstacles. Only on the winter banks the poorest citizens have built their houses, which almost every year get flooded, drowning people in the process. These people have to be relocated to elsewhere in the neighbourhood, for example to old industrial places, this is required to ensure the river has enough space and houses will not be flooded.

Water system

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RIVER

RIVERBED

SUMMER FLOODPLAINS

WINTER FLOODPLAINS CLEARED OF BUILDINGS

EVAPORATING

INFILTRATION AND BUFFERING

System section of the water structure

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CITY

STREET

RECYCLE

PARK

MAIN STREET

USING BUFFER COLLECTING RAINWATER

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PARADISE

Paradise is a reference to recreational places that Albanians are looking for during the weekend and holidays to escape the city. Qualities they long for are lush full greens and clean air. Unfortunately, these kinds of places are completely missing in the informal neighbourhood while there are a lot of potentials users, since Albanians like to spend a lot of time outside.

The strategy of creating new public structure to fulfil the desires of the citizen for recreational paradises in the city will be using three different types of spaces in the masterplan.

The largest scale is recreational use of the tree nursery alongside the river, with hidden gardens, places in the riverbed and along boulevard. With the forest from the nursery in the back and the sound of running water people can escape the daily pressure of city life. Reference for the park is the Tirana lake park, where people come to escape the city and stroll along the long boulevard.

The medium scale are the new city and production parks. Here is a space for meeting friends on playground, sports fields and terraces while enjoying green qualities of the park and water storage. In these parks recreation, food, drinks and work are interwoven. The Lulishtja park in Berat is reference for this medium scale parks, with a urban edges with cafes and green center.

Photo Edo-9/11; Reference large scale recreation; Boulevard around Tirana lake park - Tirana 2009

Reference medium scale recreation; Park with economical function in the edge. Lulishtja - Berat 2016

The smallest scale of recreation places are the pocket parks across the urban city, which are created by the inhabitants themselves fulfilling their needs on local level and creating an extensive public space network. On a similiar scale the project Tirana Play! created new public spaces in the old city centre, which are very succesfull.

Reference small scale recreation; Pedestrian square with social meeting places underneath the trees. Sheshi “Shtraus� - Tirana 2017

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Recreational system

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PROGRAMMATIC DESIGN

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ECONOMICS City level market informal goods Markt informal goods Small factory Nursery High dynamic economies New housing Collection point recycling

PARADISE Park Neighborhood park Pocket Playground Playfield ECONOMICS

The developed strategy combined with economics, water and paradise themes generates a programmatic design for the neighbourhood. A design which can be implanted gradually over the years with strong connection and interaction with the local inhabitants. The design consists out of 5 elements: First is the public production parks where new production factories recycle the neighbourhoods waste using water and labour from the nearby area. The parks are new type of public space specially designed for Tirana where working space is combined with water storage, recreational space and green.

Second is the river nursery where the river bank is cleared of buildings and it works as a big production park for the nursery of trees for Tirana, while also being a big scale landscape structure with recreation around it.

City level market informal goods

CafĂŠ Markt informal goods Small factory

Restaurant Nursery High dynamic economies

Urban farming New housing Collection point recycling

Meeting point PARADISE Park Neighborhood park

WATER Pocket

Playground

Infiltration and buffer zone Playfield CafĂŠ

Main drainage line Restaurant Urban farming

Drainage line Meeting point

River with banks WATER

Infiltration and buffer zone

Third is the city park which grows over time in a park of roughly the same size as Westerpark in Amsterdam. The park combines all different aspects of recycling, working and recreation together in one place.

Fourth is the growing network between the new parks, guiding water and people to recreational areas while at same time increasing pedestrian space around the city.

Fifth and last element are the pockets. This places made by the inhabitants themselves. They create a tailored public space network around the whole city.

Main drainage line Drainage line

Project outline River with banks

Ring road Project outline Ring road

Road Road

Programmatic design 1:8000

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MASTERPLAN

River park p. 90

City park p. 96

Public production park p. 83

Streets p. 104

Pockets p. 112

Possible future Masterplan 1:5000

ELEMENTS

Public Production Park

River Park

City Park

HT

PS

O J K

ÇA

Streets

Pockets

For each defined strategy element there is an elaborated plan. Which shows the potential of public places and how to integrate production, water and recreational components.

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PUBLIC PRODUCTION PARK

Concrete Jungle

The public production parks are the start of the strategy. This new typology of public space ranges in size between one to three hectare and are located on abandoned plots, unused hospital garden and former industrial sites.

The production parks have different production machinery or equipment according to the potentials of the site. The hospital production park will be focused on medical herbs which are still used a lot in

Albania. While the Concrete Jungle, the park shown as example, focuses on the production of concrete elements for the public space. The important part is that the parks next to the recreational space and water storage always have an economical component; otherwise it is almost not feasible to create them.

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CONCRETE JUNGLE CONCRETE FURNITURE AND BRICKS

T I R A N A

AS

EL

R BA

RUBBLE & CEMENT

SS RE

OG PR

INT AK

E

WATER

Scheme of the reused industrial building for production factory

The production of the Concrete Jungle is focused on making concrete elements, such as paving, benches and tree planters. Having this factory the municipality will make its own range of products, which will be used in the whole Tirana.

Mineral waste such as building materials and old stones are grinded down into rubble and cement, which are the base material of concrete elements such as furniture and paving. Rain water collected from the neighbourhood is used to make the final concrete batter. After drying the products are

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either used in governmental projects or sold. The labour is done by unemployed people from the neighbourhood. Due to the simplicity of the process almost anyone can perform the work. Over the years they will find their produced elements all over the city.

Since every batch of raw material has a different base material the external products will differ from each other. This creates a wide variety of unique appearances, which really suits the colourful and diverse ambiance of Tirana.

HOUSE HOLDS

EMBODIED ENERGY MINERAL WASTE

grinded

Cement

NEW HOUSES collection of runoff water

CONCRETE RECYLE Reference: Urban mining

unused labour of the household

NEW POCKETS, GARDENS

PUBLIC SPACE Space

Scheme of recycling of mineral waste to concrete elements

Concrete bench made in the Concrete Jungle used all over Tirana

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Jardin Bas

Water system

Production factory in northwest and existing housing around other edges frame the site. The spatial concept is a balcony around a Jardin Bas, lowered garden. On the balcony there is space to work, meet and play. At the same time this space is used to showcase the produced furniture.

The lowered garden is the counter part of the mineral urban balcony and it serves the role of a green oasis inside the city. By lowering the field, it is used as a water-buffering basin throughout the year to supply the public production factory with water.

The oasis complimented with a sculptural garden where the workers of the concrete factory can display their craftsmanship in big sculptural elements.

The oasis is finished with a swimming pool for the kids from the informal neighbourhood, so people who cannot afford to go to the sea have a place to swim.

Nature

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Around the edges there is a space for the citizens to create their own communal gardens for growing vegetables or flowers.

Plandrawing of the Concrete Jungle 1:2000

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89

RIVER PARK

The landscape structures have always been neglected in Tirana. Building facades looks away from the river. Contradiction is that the inhabitants and municipality are searching for the oasis within the city but they do not see the potential of the river as a oasis. River function is neglected not only in terms of water management but also as a recreational structure and potential economic gain. A new focus on the rivers would be a big gain in public space, which also makes a big positive economical impact

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in surrounding area. The similar example is Rio project in Madrid, which gave a huge boost to public life and helped to achieve economical boost in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

TIRANA’S NURSERY

Reference: Cidade desse Fomem Stadskweektuin Arnhem

NEW PUBLIC SPACES

Space

NEIGHBORHOOD NEW POCKETS, GARDENS collection of runoff water

$ COMPOST FACTORY

HOUSE HOLDS biowaste collected by waste collectors

Reference: Waste Concerne - Dhaka Bangladesh Bio wast transformed into fertilezer

unused labour of the household

Scheme of recycling of bio waste to compost and use as fertilizer

Bio waste forms one of the biggest household’s waste. Collected bio waste can be turned into compost that can be used to fuel farms and a tree nursery. By using compost, local labour and surplus of rainwater trees for the city will be produced. A selection of functional trees species is selected to grow trees, which clean the air, generate shade and support animal life. These trees can be used in all areas of the city where public greens are scarce.

This tree nursery is located on the winter banks of Tirana River. By creating several plateaus of a different height the trees that get easily harmed by flood are kept safe by being placed on a higher level.

At the same time the nursery forms the biggest linear public space from Tirana, this linear park is connected to almost the complete northern side of the city. Reachable for half of the city within a half hour walk.

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Nursery 1 year

Nursery 10 years

Mix of 1st and 2nd generation trees

To make this nursery and the river park, the river is widened to ensure good drainage during heavy rainfall. Housing on the riverbanks is relocated to other sites within the same neighbourhood.

Rainwater coming out of the neighbourhood is collected at winter bank edge and irrigated through a grid system ensuring all the trees get enough water.

At the edge of the summer banks a boulevard is created using the elements produced in public production parks. This boulevard is used as a

Widening the river

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Using the collected rain water

Nursery 15 years

Mix of 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation trees

public space. One side is looking over the water and has lowered terraces where people relax after a day of work away from the city. On the other side is the nursery forest as green backside and barrier between the city and this oasis.

Hidden gardens are made in the riverbed and nursery along the park. Some of them are only accessible during low water while others are only visible after moving some trees from the nursery.

This creates playful elements and ensures different kind of experience every time you go there.

Grid as irrigation system

Hidden gardens along the river

Olea euopaea

Pinus pinea

Robinia pseudoacacia

Ailanthus altissima

Citrus x sinensis

Celtis australis

Additonal suitable trees

Prunus dulcis

Platanus orientalis

Acer platanoides Aesculus hippocastanum Castanaea sativa Citrus lemon Citrus reticulata Corylus colurna Dictyosperma album Juglans nigra Malus sylvestris Paulownia tomentosa Picea abies Pinus halepensis

Populus nigra Prunus avium Prunus cerasifera Prunus domestica Prunus persica Punica granatum Quercus frainetto Roystenea elata Sable palmetto Sorbus aucuparia Tilia cordata Tilia tomentosa Styphno japonicum Zelkova serrata

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New river space Old river space

Section of the river system and park 1:1500

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95

CITY PARK

In Tirana there is only one park with the size of real city park, which is Tirana lake park. Even though it has a central location the lake park is too far from most neighbourhoods. Ideally Tirana should have multiple parks with similar attraction level.

Amsterdam for example has more than ten parks spread evenly through the city. To take pressure of the lake park and spread activities around the city it would be good to have at least a park such as Wester park in every quadrant of the city.

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RECYCLE PARK

Clay brick facotry

Recycle center

Farm Farm

Herbal garden

Farm

Othe production parks

Plastic toy factory

Scheme of input of the production factories in the Recycle Park

There is an industrial complex of the company Edil Centro located between the old railroad and the river, which produces prefab ceramic building blocks. While perfectly located in the past now it is found in isolation. It is hard to reach by truck and there is no room for potential expansion. Like many other industrial sites, it will eventually move to economical corridor between Tirana, DurrĂŤs and the airport, where it will be easily reachable by transport and nearby suppliers and customers.

This will leave the city with a site as big as Wester park. It creates a great opportunity for a city park development that will include public productions

sites, water storage, recreational space and also cultural and classic park elements.

Because of its size it can leverage different aspects of other public production parks in one place.

The park development starts with the collection of waste next to road and river. This place was already a dumping place in the past and it can play this role again. From there the waste is separated and dividend over several urban farms and factories.

This is done over the main axis that goes throughout the park.

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Bar

Restaurant

Grand cafe

Market axis

Market

Bar

Restaurant

Scheme of output from the farms and factories

The produced goods from the factories and farms are directly used and sold in the park. This is done by one big market selling these goods and also products from the other productions parks. The products are showcased on the main alley. Trees from the nursery, furniture and paving from the Concrete Jungle are used as design elements which people can also buy when they visit the park.

Transformation from the existing factory to the park can be realized in phases. First part of the park can

3

1

Water from the surrounding area is collected in main drainage lines covering the whole site. The buffered water is used in the production processes. In case of really heavy rainfall the farms and recreational grounds can temporary buffer large amount of water before releasing it to the river system.

CLAY FABRIC

RECYLE CENTER

2

MARKET

4

FOODMARKET

5

Phasing of the realisation of the park

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already be realized today by claiming the abandoned site on the left. From there in small steps the park can extend to the left until it connects to the river.

FUNCTIONAL FLOODLANDS

Water system

Section of the main axis 1:200

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The park is designed around the main axis which is the life line of the park.

It functions as the showcase of the produced goods, as a main access street and as recreational space. This axis ends with a balcony overlooking Tirana river.

Along the axis the production sites and recreational places are located. Sites such as the herbal garden play both economical and recreational functions.

Plandrawing of the Recyle Park 1:2000

In this park big open recreational fields have been made, for fields sports and big cultural activities, which makes this one of the few places where you can actual play football as a kid.

All the entrances are marked with grid of blossoming trees announcing that you enter a park. This also works as meeting points and recreation spaces.

The park combines both economical and water aspects to create a much need big recreational place in Tirana.

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102

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STREETS

Existing road structure

With the uncontrolled growth of the area the road structure is currently incomplete. While the main structure from the communist era is good and continues, the informal structure is almost always ending in dead alleys. This makes it hard and inefficient to move through the city.

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Proposed road structure

Legend:

In some parts of the area the streets have been renovated but for the most parts they are not yet renewed. The masterplan uses this renovation to upgrade the roads with water drainage lines and add pedestrian space. In addition it also upgrades the structure as a whole by completing and connection the road system, ensuring easier and better transportation through the neighbourhood.

These new connections have a focus on slow traffic to create a better space for pedestrians and cyclists.

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Acces roads

Existing road profile for access streets 1:250

Proposed road profile for access streets 1:250

Access roads are connecting the main traffic of the neighbourhood to the ring roads. Currently they have oversized road where cars are parking and overtaking at the same moment. This results in very little space for the pedestrians. The space that is available is divided into small pieces with green structures and other objects.

and two driving cars. This generates space to widen the pedestrian area and tree pits, which used to be too small for a tree to grow. Space dividing elements are removed to recreate a small public space with pedestrian path.

After renovation the road profile becomes smaller.

There is still enough space left for one parked car

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Water is disconnected from the sewers and transported with new gutters to the public production parks, while also used to irrigate the tree along the streets.

Paving from local brick makers

Gutters from the concrete production

Tree’s from local nusery

Localy produced elements for the renovation of the streets

Products from the public production parks will be used for the renovation of infrastructure in Tirana.

While using a fixed size for the material the overall feel will be the same while each piece will have individual colours and appearances throughout the city depending on the base material used in the production parks. The trees will be provided by the nursery that grows a selection of tree species suitable for planting in paved areas.

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Streets

Existing road profile for streets 1:200

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Proposed road profile for streets 1:200

Existing plot boundary

Proposed plot boundary

Connected to the access streets are normal streets which connects most of the neighbourhood to the access streets. These streets are most of the time rather small with even smaller pedestrian space left. Pedestrians are forced to walk on the streets with parked and speeding cars.

The new road is smaller with a 5,5m profile. Leaving enough space to park your car and still have a twoway car lane. The road is off centre from the axis

allowing one very small sidewalk and one normal size sidewalk. The sidewalk and car road are separated by the new gutter.

These roads have little or no greens and face walls surrounding the plots. By financing new Albanian styled gates for people who lower their walls, the street view extends to the paradises behind the walls and at the same time makes the streets safer.

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Alleys

Existing road profile for alleys 1:200

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Proposed road profile for alleys 1:200

Informal green structures guide over the alleys as a berceaux

The smallest streets in Tirana are the alleys to the house that are further away from the streets. Most of the time they are not wider than 4 or 5 meters.

These roads are designed with a one big car lane and pedestrian side smaller than half a meter. While the most users of these streets are pedestrians.

In the proposed profile the car and the pedestrian lanes are combined in one shared space creating

more space for pedestrians and having enough space for a rare car to manoeuvre.

To make the street more liveable in summer and to bring greens into the street, steel wires are strung between the buildings and poles. Over this wires informal greens can grow from the gardens over the streets creating a berceaux.

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POCKETS

While other parts of the strategy involve action from municipality and input from citizens, the pockets are organized by the inhabitants themselves.

People are empowered to create the spaces they needed the most, just like the inhabitants have done in the past with making their houses and connecting streets. Instead of ignoring the organizing power of the informal community it is suggested to use it in order to create a dense network of public space.

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ARCHETYPES

Split road

Vacant plot

Reclaiming space from the car

Unused public gardens

Square

Leftover corners

Courtyard

All over the city pieces of lost land can be found.

These are left over corners or abandoned plots.

Most of the time these unprogrammed or simply used as parking places. These spaces are perfect spots for little program such as playgrounds, squares and other public space elements. They are located in the middle of the neighbourhood easily reachable by inhabitants

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HOTEL

BAR DHE RESTORANT

ACTORS

GOVERMENT

MEANS

HOTEL

BAR DHE RESTORANT

Residents

Approving Project

Legalisation private house HOTEL

BAR DHE RESTORANT

HOTEL

BAR DHE RESTORANT

Entrepeneurs

Approving Project

License for business

Program

Playground

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Sportfield

Meeting place

Garden

Allotment garden

Program of the pocket parks

Instead of top down development these grounds are really suitable for grassroot project approach by empowering local inhabitants. They know the existing situation and what their own needs are in a public domain. To compensate their investment and reward their work in the public domain they get a legalisation of their house or a license for business.

Both are highly desired papers. By empowering and encouraging people to invest their time, effort and money in public space, they will be more involved in the community and more responsible for what

happens in the neighbourhood.

To get the legalisation or license they have to develop one pocket park as group of neighbours.

This pocket can be a playground, little sport field or meeting places depending on what inhabitants consider themselves as needed.

Through this strategy a very specific and local public network will be generated throughout the neighbourhood.

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DEDICATED USER

PROGRAM

ELEMENTS

Pedestrian space

Space dedicated to a specific program

Permeable grounds

Free unprogrammed space

Shade with natural green

Space for program of maker

Seatings

Green space

Public waterpoint

Attractive materialisation

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Tree’s from local nusery

Paving from local brick makers

Furniture from the concrete production

Waterpoint as present from the municipality

T

SH

J

ÇA

P KO

Example of café owner and inhabitants working together making a square with terrace and green.

When a group of neighbours want to make a pocket park together they can request a step-by-step guide and materials to build it. The pocket park should always be mainly pedestrian space, so there are no parked cars. Next to making a room for the decided poket space citizens will also clean up the space, plant trees and shrubs and assign a particular function, for example for playing.

The design should include seating area, shade and attractive execution so people can try to recreate it in the chosen pocket. For the construction the inhabitants can use the paving, furniture and trees produced in the public production parks.

When the pocket park is finished the inhabitants can present it to municipality, which can approve and finalize it it with a public water point and give the people legalisation for their houses.

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TOOLBOX

Toolbox for the development of public space in the informal city

1. Claiming off empty spaces for public space. (inbetween zone of formal/ informal)

2. Transforming of (former) industry area’s to city parks

3. Activating of inhabitants for the development of small scale spaces in a refined and dense network

4. Lifting on the ongoing renovation of roads to create pedestrian/ public space on the side

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ALL

5. Enlarging feasibility by adding new economic and social functions to public space

6. Make every small piece part of a bigger story, so that you tackle the bigger issues in the city such as water resilient city

7. Activating landscape structures, such as rivers, as the main structures of the new networks

Advice for working in the informal city

1. Start directly by claiming spaces and start up projects in public space, next step is making a masterplan

3. Directing collaborations with local citizen. Making them allies and potential workforce for the project.

2. Work with local energies, use existing systems, strenghting and upgrade them

4. Reuse and respect existing build capital.

Bulldozering is socially and economially not desirable

By using a new approach towards masterplanning in the informal neighbourhood a lot of potential solutions appear. Activating and involving citizen generates support, potential users of the public space and workforce. Instead of elaborated and detailed planning new approach suggests to start with small actions right away. By laying quick foundation all the following steps will come in easier, especially when it is not required to demolish private housing to make a change.

By using this approach, the proposed masterplan is tackling the problems of the city turning them into opportunities. One of these opportunities is new public space invented specifically for the informal neighbourhoods - the public production park. In this type of public space working, recreation and water-

management are coexisting and interconnected.

These parks use unemployed people and generate all kind of goods for the city ranging from food to urban furniture from recycled material.

Besides having a chance to join production parks, citizens are also involved in the creation and development of customized, user-orientated and dense network of small public spaces. By making effort and contributing to the creating of public spaces citizens may earn legalisation paper for their houses.

Combined with the transformation of the roads Tirana will become a green, social and attractive city for everyone.

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TIRANA 2017-2040

2017

First pilot of the public production park is started in LaprakĂŤ.

2020

After the succes of the first park the other public production parks where created and pocket parks started to grow within LaprakĂŤ

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2025

The proven strategy of the developing public space in LaprakĂŤ is used to start developing in other neighbourhoods.

2030

The informal city is changing into a green belt around Tirana with many public production parks generating income for the inhabitants and green paradises for their desires.

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2040

23 years after the start of the first pilot project whole of the informal city has changed into green oasis. With formalised housing, many parks and dense public space network it’s example for planning in the informality all over the world.

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THANKS TO Mentor Bram Breedveld Commission members Francesco Garofalo Lodewijk van Niewenhuijze External advisors Marieke Francke Michiel van Driessche Sybrand Tjallingii BOOM Landscape Jan Maas Philomene van der Vliet Angelo Renna Anjo van Dijk Ekaterina Borodulya Francesco Carrasso Geurt Holdijk Jelmer Hoffman Lieke Jildou de Jong Marinus Spaan Niels van Renselaar

Copyright Š 2017 by M. Spaan All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.