Integrated Cross-Sectorial Plan of Tirana-Durres Area

Waterways, water surfaces and underground
waters should be protected within a range not
lesser than 100 m (buffer zone).
The local centres should be served with
drinking water, through a managed supply
system for the treatment of drinking water
quality. Residential facilities away from
urban-rural centres should be equipped
with certified collective or individual wells, to
ensure protection against pollution and natural
hazards.
EP3- Green infrastructure
Green infrastructure is a general term that
involves the protection, management and
enhancement of environmental resources in
urban, peri-urban and rural-natural areas. The
plan aims to identify and provide functional
green spaces for the residents and ecosystem.
They should be interconnected among them in
such a way that they can promote the creation
of a regional green network, thus creating new
opportunities for managing and using these
spaces.
Green infrastructure includes natural areas
and green spaces in both urban and ruralnatural
environments. It is presented as
a natural physical environment, within
and between urban centres, as well as
between local residential centres. This open
infrastructural network includes: parks,
gardens, forests, green corridors, rivers,
streams and trees along the roads etc.
It is important to identify all natural
and environmental resources and then
consider the advantages of using them. The
development of green infrastructure should
focus on the identification, expansion and
upgrading of existing green areas, while
ensuring network connections for these
territories.
Developing a green corridor network is a
complex issue because it involves issues
such as private land ownership, or issues
related to physical interconnection of the
territories. Initially it is recommended that
local authorities should identify strategic
intervention points within public or private
owned territories and then improve their links.
Moreover, local authorities should put in place
the mechanisms provided by the territorial
planning system.
Where there is a possibility to establish
interconnection corridors, government
authorities should intervene using schemes
that promote the use of these territories
as a natural environment for recreation or
ecotourism.
Such approaches and initiatives aim to protect,
enhance and maintain the natural environment
by bringing benefits to the health of the
population of the region, as well as increasing
the economic, social, environmental and
physical value of the green areas.
Context and functions of green infrastructure
At the macro level, the creation and
development of green infrastructure addresses
five important issues for the sustainable
development of the territory, focusing on:
1. the sustainable resource management,
including controlled and balanced use of them,
as well as controlling and monitoring the level
of pollution from human activity;
2. the biodiversity, and in particular on the
importance of connecting different habitats to
the landscape and species;
3. the recreation, connection of natural areas
with green (non-motorized) roads to improve
the quality of life and health;
4. the landscape, in the sense of protecting the
natural heritage. Benefiting from and enjoying
natural resources such as green areas and
natural corridors as subjects of nature’s
aesthetics ;
5. the regional development and promotion,
in particular with regards to sustainable
community issues that relate to the overall
quality of the environment and living.
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