The history of the Albanian capital is both a brief and chequered one. Tirana has gone from a village to a metropolis in just a few years and is set to become a prime example of the modern city. However, this process is not without its share of conflict, says Julia Putzger from Postcards from Albania.

Albania is a country of many faces. This is clearer than ever in Tirana. Take a look around the main square and you will see a modern, flourishing city with a European outlook. However, if you venture to the outskirts and suburbs in the north, you will be met by the sight of water tanks on the roofs of dilapidated houses, as there is no city-wide water supply. And if you then manage to grab a seat on one of the overcrowded public buses and take the tortuously long and slow journey back into the centre, you will pass by sprawling high-rise housing estates, modern office buildings and building site after building site. Tirana is a city of contrasts undergoing a period of huge upheaval. The new is both complementing and displacing the old. Urban development concepts aim to provide some direction in this jungle of projects and find integrated solutions for the city.

However, Veliaj will have to be careful not to get it mixed up with the 4,000 other identical bikes recently distributed all across Tirana. They are hire bikes made by the Chinese company Mobike, which can be used via an app and parked at their very own docking stations. The Albanian capital is leading the way in the Balkans with this concept. Veliaj is proud of this and sees it as an important step towards a greener future. So what would it be like if the mayor wheeled his bike out of the office and showed us his city from a cyclist’s perspective?

Tirana city hall is housed in a red and yellow building constructed by Italian architects at the beginning of the 20th century. It is located right on the main square, which is named after the national hero Skanderbeg – the south side of the square boasts a larger-than-life statue in his honour. If Veliaj hopped onto his bicycle here, he could go round and round in large circles without being bothered by a single car. Skanderbeg Square is the heart of Tirana. It is a rare space of calm in the Albanian capital, where both visitors and residents can collect their thoughts. Covering an area of 97,000 square metres, the spot is used by young and old to relax, to party or to just take a stroll. The sprawling square is paved with polished stones from regions all over Albania and surrounded by little green oases. Sage and mint grow in the gardens, the leaves of young linden trees rustle in the wind, and benches are nestled among the dense maquis shrubs that are so common in Albania, providing the perfect spot to unwind. This is Albania at its most European, aspirational and modern.

“We turned the most congested area in the city into one of its liveliest places,” says the mayor with satisfaction. The plans to redesign Skanderbeg Square were developed by the Belgian architectural firm 51N4E; Albania’s current prime minister, Edi Rama – who served as mayor before Veliaj’s predecessor – had something similar in mind. The plans were finally realised in 2017 thanks to financial support from the United Arab Emirates and were a resounding success: in 2018 the redevelopment of Skanderbeg Square struck a chord across the world and won the tenth edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Spaces, selected from 279 submissions from 32 countries. In its explanatory statement, the jury said that the project had “an intentional yet unassuming connection with Albania’s national identity”. While the heart of Tirana may seem to give a glimpse of this country’s future, the city centre could not be more steeped in history.

Infrastructure for all

In the Balkans, nothing embodies the spirit of community and social interaction as much as its lively bazaars. There is a frenzy of activity in the narrow gaps between the stalls: people are busy bargaining, chatting and nibbling at food. In the Tirana of olden days, the bazaar was next to the Et’hem-Bey mosque, the oldest in the city, which is located on Skanderbeg Square. Today, however, the mayor will have to pedal further to buy his fresh fruit and veg. Just under 500 metres east of the main square, you will find the new market hall with its gleaming glass roof. This is a place of order and cleanliness; there are wide aisles and fixed counters instead of market stalls. The new bazaar is one of Veliaj’s flagship projects: “I think that if I had to name my three favourite places in Tirana – and that’s really no easy task – then the new bazaar would definitely be one of them,” the politician explains in an interview. If you wander just a few streets further, however, you will discover a very different kind of Albanian sales culture: tiny shops in garages, traders selling their wares spread over already narrow pavements, open refrigerated counters and shaky shelving units, which hardly comply with European hygiene and safety standards. Regulations have been developed to put a stop to these kinds of conditions, but the infrastructure needed to implement them is lacking.

There is no shortage of space for retail units here, but many of the buildings planned are still under construction. The most striking of these unfinished projects is the 4 Evergreen Tower on the south-west side of Skanderbeg Square. This concrete shell has stood there for the last ten years, soaring 85 metres and dominating the skyline like a huge wobbly tooth. On the bright side, it could help Veliaj get his bearings while cycling around the labyrinth of Tirana’s alleyways. The 4 Evergreen Tower is destined to be one of ten different structures, which will tower over Tirana and shape the cityscape with their extravagant designs. One is already complete: the TID Tower on the east side of the main square. Construction recently started on the Blloku Cube, designed by Boeri. Many question the usefulness of these buildings, particularly government critics such as Redi Muci: “Instead of the promised green areas for the residents of this city, a concrete jungle is emerging, pandering to the wishes of business people.”

Urban development: a private matter

Influential business figures have in fact often had their fingers in the pie when it comes to Tirana’s urban planning, mostly in the form of public-private partnerships, i.e. collaborative projects between private investors and the public sector. This involves the government getting private investors on board to finance expensive projects. In return, it takes their interests into account by letting them have plots of land or integrating their construction schemes into the planned projects. This is a method preferred by Tirana’s mayor Veliaj in his quest to drive forward the city’s development – after all, its budget is very tight.

The most recent example of this are the plans to rebuild the National Theatre. This inconspicuous building is located just a few steps behind the town hall – it would barely be worth Veliaj hopping onto his two-wheeled steed – and dates back to the period when fascist Italy occupied Albania. It is one of the few historic buildings left standing in Tirana. This partly explains why actors and residents are so attached to their old National Theatre. For functional reasons, however, the decision to rebuild the theatre would seem unavoidable: the building was originally a cinema.

Yet the almost daily protests against the government’s plans for the National Theatre, which began in June 2018, were sparked by a different matter: some two thirds of the site that currently belongs to the city would become the property of private investors, who plan to construct a huge complex of buildings on the land. It sounds like a perfect deal for Veliaj and the city of Tirana: the construction company Fusha Shpk will become the landowner and in return it will build the National Theatre. It will cost the city nothing and create added value in the shape of real estate. “Sometimes we have to join forces with private investors to ensure we can afford to purchase the things we need right now,” Veliaj explains succinctly. In the case of the National Theatre, however, this alliance has left a bitter aftertaste: although there was a public tender for the project, the bid already suggested Fusha Shpk as a partner in this lucrative trade-off. According to the news blog Exit: Explaining Albania, the company has links to the government and has already been involved in similar projects in Tirana. Prime Minister Rama recently made at least a formal gesture to tackle this situation when he tabled a new bill to stop competing companies being put at a disadvantage from the outset. Behind the curtains, however, the construction of the new National Theatre, designed by Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group, would seem to be a done deal.

If Veliaj cycles south along the Boulevard Dëshmorët e Kombit, one of the most important routes into the centre of Tirana, he will even find a designated cycle lane and many a project to survey. The main attraction on the left is the Pyramid of Tirana. This out-of-place concrete behemoth has been crumbling away for years and was originally intended to be a mausoleum for the communist dictator Enver Hoxha. When proposals were made to demolish the structure several years ago, however, many Albanians rediscovered an urge to preserve the past. As a result, instead of constructing a futuristic new parliament building in its place, the Pyramid was left to fall further into decay and to the children who regularly scramble up its slanting concrete walls. In June 2018, Veliaj re-announced his well-known plans: to transform the Pyramid into the world’s largest centre for young people who want to learn programming. Nevertheless, as with many of the urban development projects, it is not yet clear when exactly this will happen.

The mayor’s imaginary bicycle tour would include a host of other destinations. The national arena, for example, which is currently under construction, and which will finally provide the national football team with a suitable home. It will also feature an office and hotel tower jutting into the sky, but will not include a track for athletics events. Or the suburbs to the north of the city, which have been planned out in detailed development concepts that nobody sticks to because of the many lucrative business deals going on in the background. The years to come will show whether Tirana’s inhabitants can also benefit from the millions of euros being invested in the cityscape. Only very small parts of the ambitious Tirana 2030 concept have been implemented to date; other projects are still waiting to get the go-ahead. The capital of Albania is thus in many ways a construction site – but one with great potential.

Original in German. First published on on June 2018 in Postcards from Albania.
Translated into English by Rebekah Smith.

This text is protected by copyright: © Julia Putzger. If you are interested in republication, please contact the editorial team.
Copyright information on pictures, graphics and videos are noted directly at the illustrations. Cover picture: Looking to the east: the clocktower and Et’hem-Bey mosque are among the few constants on Skanderbeg Square, the epicentre of Tirana’s recent transformation into a metropolis. The square itself is also becoming a fashionable meeting point. Photos: © Robert Pichler (then), Michael Sommer (now)