Public consultations on Tirana urban development plan

TIRANA, Sept. 24 – The Tirana Municipality has launched a public consultation campaign ahead of the approval of the capital’s new urban development plan.
“Citizens’ participation and their decision-making at the end of the urban plan which this city has been missing for 21 years is vital for me. It is as important as the final result of this plan and a guarantee that the final result will be stable and not subject to frequent changes based on the mood of the bureaucratic responsible institutions,” said Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha at an international architecture conference.
Consultations started at the municipal unit no. 8, where Tirana Municipality experts acquainted local inhabitants with the changes the new urban plan foresees for their neighborhood.
The municipality says the urban plan will guarantee sustainable development for a modern European capital although chaotic developments for the past 20 years have already left their irreparable mark. Compiled after Lulzim Basha took over as Tirana Mayor, the new urban plan extends in two municipalities and 6 communes, envisaging seven development poles for Tirana.
Development poles are expected to be established with the extension of the current boulevard, at the hospital area, the Student campus, in the South-West area, the Aviation field, and the Kombinat and Kamza suburban areas.
The urban plan will undergo consultations with citizens and interest groups for 3 months before being voted in the municipal council.
London-based Grimshaw Architects has been recently announced the winner of an international design competition to extend the boulevard in Tirana to the Tirana River. The project’s implementation will start within this year as soon as the detailed technical project is ready.