REACTIVE RIVIERA

Team project with MetroPOLIS

Role: Spatial Planner and Urban Designer International Design Competition (2015 , Tirana, Albania)

The Context

The transition from a centrally planned economy, where everything was controlled by the government, towards decentralization and market economy, has been one of the biggest challenges for Albania.

Failing at considering territorial planning as a management tool and policy for controlling development, informality and fragmented urbanization have led to the overexploitation of centrally located areas, majorly manifested on the western coastal lowland, where most of the economic resources and potentials are located. With a coastline of 476 km, tourism has been considered one of the main sectors of the local economy, with a total contribution of 6% in the total GDP, which considering other indirect contributors reaches up to 20%. Lack of planning and control over this strip of land, also considered as a “strategic corridor”, has led to unsustainable models, which are suffering today not only the consequences of overexploitation of resources and irreversible potentials, but also the direct exposure to the impact of climate change.

Given this context, the OMB Observatory of Mediterranean Basin and POLIS University have done a series of research work and studies, aiming to understand the role of planning in not only guiding and controlling development, but also on mitigating the negative impact inherited over the years. On these terms, the case of the Albanian Riviera has been used as a research laboratory, providing specific and concrete examples on how the bottom up approach, participatory planning and comprehensive development models, can promote responsible behaviours in benefiting from local potentials for an integrated social, economic and territorial development.

“Reactive Riviera” is the outcome of the collaboration between the two studios, Metropolis (AL) and Sealine (IT) on the framework of “Riviera International Competition” organized by AKPT (National Agency for Territorial Development) and the Ministry of Urban Development, in 2014. The aim of the design competition was to bring up ideas and concepts about the regeneration of the local economy based in tourism development, and improvement of the quality of public spaces.

About The Project

The concept behind the “Reactive Riviera” is grounded on the belief that tourism is the most important source for Riviera, to safeguard the growth and improve its environmental and cultural heritage (i.e. mountain and coastal landscapes, villages and local communities, traditions and identities). Tourism and public aesthetics have the potential to create beneficial effects on the environment by contributing to its valorization and conservation. They can act as instruments to raise awareness of environmental values and tools to finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance.

Following this, “sustainable”, “ethical” and “local” become three keywords that drive the project.

By examining environmental sustainability (in terms of environmental conditions, potential risks and potential impacts produced), social sustainability (in terms of community resilience, local traditions, potential involvement and participation of inhabitants in the changes and growth), and financial sustainability (in terms of compatibility and balance between investors’ expectation and community needs, rights and participation), two sets of components were identified: the primary components (territorial resources of historical, landscape and environmental character, which make the area to be considered a “tourist destination”), and the secondary components (the services, infrastructure and functions) designed to satisfy the tourist demand.

The efficiency of each individual component and their relationships determine the success and attractiveness of the territory from the tourist perspective. The key factor however, remains in the fact that all the components are able to engage with the local community. Therefore, the project aims at boosting accessibility through an integrated and multifaceted infrastructural network, connecting Riviera with the rest of the country and the adjacent cross-border area as well. Using this network, a series of hubs of different characters (settlements, landscape or historical sites, economic areas etc.) were identified and reactivated, based on a whole – year activity program, extending the use and economic benefit of the whole Riviera, beyond just the summer season, and by exploring and promoting incremental public –private partnerships.