Corbusier's atelier

host innovative and technologically advanced production, implementing both agricultural and industrial activities related to natural protection. While on the northern edge the park will continue improving the natural oasis which is already part of a wellprotected and cared environment of the core zone. The main interventions can be summarized as follows. Firstly, the project seeks to improve the interventions already taken by the local administration in reinforcing the existing pinewood, progressively thickening it, colonizing the space of the sandy beach . The pinewood forest is meant as the main connecting element of the whole park environment and is of primary relevance in structuring the new coastline landscape. However, this action is also strategic in organizing access to the beach. Reducing the distance between the forest and the sea and providing small parking lots plunged into the forest, can prevent private cars accessing the shore, and the same parking lots can be considered as flexible public spaces during the low season. Secondly, the existing urbanization plunged into the forest and devoted to seaside tourism is to be recovered and requalified. To avoid illegal and low-quality buildings in this strip of hotels and secondary houses, but also to avoid large derogatory projects, we propose to evaluate the opportunity of a moderate extension of this “resort in the park” environment. It could achieve the double goal

Figure 5. The reorganized main road is a tangible signal of a renewed idea of citizenship and belonging. Students: C.Catapano, P. Dipace, P.o Nobili Vitelleschi ( 2017-18), Politecnico di Milano

of requalifying the existing stock and providing a small number of locally owned and managed tourist premises. The direct involvement of the Park Administration could be taken into consideration for this intervention. The forest also integrates a bicycle and pedestrian path, which runs along the margin of the lagoon and gives access to the piers for inner navigation and to a range of park-related services (information center, birdwatching installations, didactic paths, etc.). All of the park installations are designed to be the product of local craftsmanship and are meant to reinforce the local economy, recovering and developing local tradition of wood working at service of the park maintenance. A first footbridge, crossing the forest, has already been built by the municipality and is made of pinewood, collected from the park maintenance. Finally, at the south of the coast line where the desolate landscape of the failed land reclamation divides the lagoon from the sea, we propose a new productive landscape. Large plots, organized on a grid recovering the former reclamation grid, are detached by the lagoon by a thick strip of pine wood forest: the land is here available for a range of activities which should introduce innovative productions strongly linked

Figure 6. Footbridges in the forest, Parks services and leisure activities are organized by a unique infrastructure fostering a new economy enhancing wood craftsmanship. Student: E. Bertonazzi (2017-18), Politecnico di Milano

to natural protection. They will be hosted in a park environment and should be compatible with high sustainability standards. Some examples could be the cultivation of officinal plants and their transformation, the productive cycle of wood and paper production, photovoltaic energy production, algae cultivation for energy production, salt industries, etc. The programs will be subject to evaluation on a case by case basis, but the basic principle is that the region has to consider improving its attractiveness by proposing an innovative model of technological park, which can prevent depopulation becoming a major issue.

CONCLUSIONS

As a general conclusion we can recall that our research is grounded in the National Plan effort to promote environmental protection and develop tourism both on the coast and in the lagoon area. This research program seeks to trigger innovation in socioeconomic development while reinforcing local resources and offering a positive approach towards coast protection. To promote an active protection of the region’s resources, which doesn’t simply rely on the good intentions of preservation, local administrations have to contrast very diverse phenomena of “erosion” both natural and anthropic, while they also have to face large derogatory plans. To achieve these goals a strong and reliable model of local planning is needed. Coherently, the research questions the concrete possibility of implementing National Plan strategies of sustainable development, and suggests that a thorough investigation and review of current local planning strategies is necessary. Therefore, the study’s main proposal is an integrated project. It conceives the complexity of the existing territory and the coexistence of diverse economies as one of the major resources of the region. Coherently, the project recognized the need to work with different strategies which are not necessarily sectorial, and are frequently transcalar, as for example, strategies concerning water management which cannot be separated from agricultural improvement strategies, housing stock regeneration, or the provision of urban waste management. Consequently, as Albania is in a process of re-grounding the whole system of planning, we consider how the region of Divjakë can offer an exemplary opportunity to challenge the very notion of sustainable development in local planning. For this purpose, the final results of our research consist in providing the municipality of Divjake with a set of development and planning guidelines, which can be tested and verified in the near future. This effort seeks to consolidate innovative design practices capable of dealing with a dynamic and yet fragile territory, which requires active and focused interventions as opposed to static and traditional land-use planning (Masoud, 2017). The region of Divjake, thus, has served both as the target of the investigation, and the background against which to test innovative design processes dealing with the multiple scales and dimensions of local planning. Moreover, to provide guidance for reframing agricultural production and rural tourism economy – which is still in its initial phase – the research proposes the creation of a specific infrastructure, named Urban Lab, (currently under construction), which purpose is to provide formative courses for the local youth. This urban laboratory with the active involvement of civil society and institutions will be in charge of testing most of the research proposals. The research program, thus, positions itself at an intermediate level between the reception of society’s needs or expectations and the reconstruction of a legitimate and participated planning practice.

Figure 7. Different economies in the National park. Students: M. Bianchi, F. Fantinato, D. Tirrito (a.y. 2017/18). Politecnico di Milano.

REFERENCES

• Banham, R. (1976) Los Angeles: The architecture of four ecologies, London: Penguin Publisher • Brew, D. 2003. Geomorphology of the Albanian Adriatic Coast: A Study of Short-and Long-term Changes at Karavasta Lagoon and their Implications for Coastal Management. Geography, 88(2), pp. 8898. • Cattor, B. and De Meulder, B. (2010) An Iteration between Collaborative Urbanism and Formal Cartographies. Design experiments in Southwest Flanders in Meijsmans, N., & Beelen, K. (2010). • Designing for a Region. Amsterdam: Sun Academia, pp. 202-213 • Ciavola P., Arthurton R.S., Brew D.S. and Lewis P.M. (1995), Coastal change in Albania: case studies at Karavasta and Patok. Technical Report WC/95/18, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, UK.

• Masoud, F. (2017), Coding Flux: Redesigning the migrating coast. Scenario Journal 06: Migration, Summer 2017, https://scenariojournal.com/article/ coding-flux/ [Accessed 01 Jul. 2018]. • Ministry of Urban Development, National Territorial Planning Agency (2016) General national plan : first national document on territorial planning : 20152030 , Tiranë: Pegi. • Munari, C., Tessari, U., Rossi, R. and Mistri, M. (2010), The ecological status of Karavasta Lagoon (Albania): Closing the stable door before the horse has bolted? Marine Environmental Research, 69(1), pp. 10-17. • Viganò, P. (2010), I territori dell'urbanistica: il progetto come produttore di conoscenza. Roma: Officina.