Farmers with a View / Fermerë me pamje nga deti

Prescriptions
Despite their proximity to one another, Kudhës, Pilur, Qeparo, and Himarë
Fshat are surprisingly diverse in character. Each village has a unique history
of settlement which is related to elevation and topography. Each has a
unique relationship with the sea depending on distance to it, which in turn
affects the ways in which village members dispersed after 1991. In Himarë
or Pilur, where a new business could be started by simply walking down
the hill, villagers tended to stay nearby, whereas in Kudhës, which is much
further inland, the able-bodied population emigrated outside Albania as
soon as they could. The dispersion pattern affects the attitudes of villagers
today toward their own environment. In Kudhës there is a strong nostalgia
for the village, where residents return from abroad once a year and invest to
improve their family homes, whereas the landscape of Pilur is comparatively
uncared for, likely because so many villagers have interests in businesses and
property directly below. Pilur was for a time at least, a place to forget.
The six events that we propose each originate in our attempt to
assess the existing strengths of each village and build upon them. This
assessment came from observation and interviews with both residents and
visitors. Some of the events, like Village Store is equally applicable among
all villages immediately, while Culture Camp may only function well in
certain conditions. We also believe that if multiple events were to take root in
villages, they would not compete but likely mutually reinforce one another.
A large injection of income from a successful Mountain Bike Festival could
be invested in upgrades to a community center which could attract more
frequent and potentially higher-paying clients, which would have further
repercussions on the income taken by residents renting rooms in houses.
Importantly, while the events we prescribe for each village are
temporary, their impact is spatial. The following maps illustrate which
grouping of the six events we believe would be most effective in combination
for each village. The maps also demonstrate the powerful reach of the events
in spatial terms – how the fabric of the villages would be thoroughly effected.
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