Integrated Cross-Sectorial Plan of Tirana-Durres Area

The municipalities should focus on:
• reducing the response to the pressure of
land use for housing in peripheral and periurban
areas;
• increasing land use in agriculture and
support services in the peri-urban area;
• integrating tourism and recreation services
in peri-urban areas;
• preserving high natural and environmental
values in peri-urban areas;
• restricting urban development outside the
“green line”;
• promoting the development of “TOD”
(Transit-Oriented Development) and “CBD”
(Central Business District);
• using urban territory with high-density
mixed-use functions;
• promoting walking and bicycle mobility in
urban areas;
• short interurban distances less dependent
on vehicles, to reduce energy consumption
and CO2 emissions;
• reducing environmental pollution through
the growth of green areas;
• increasing living standards thanks to
efficient services for residents;
• reducing infrastructural and service costs.
Densification of centres
Smart urban densification should be
developed according to the multifunctional
neighbourhood and housing block model, with
high quality public and social spaces, based
on the historical and architectural values
of areas. Densification should ensure the
elimination of housing demand outside urban
centres to increase polycentricism among
poles of urban centres and increase the
quality of services and life in these centres.
Increased use of space for housing and
services should be oriented to verticality,
providing the necessary conditions for more
green community spaces, ecological transport
modes, and mixed functions in the use of
buildings in residential blocks.
Development should first be directed
towards promoting the use of spaces that
have completed construction but are still
empty, as well as the use and full efficiency
of second homes. The municipalities should
encourage the re-use of these unused assets
through legal/financial measures, local tax
systems or even public-private partnerships.
Subsequently, the development should be
directed towards “filling in the blocks” with a
poor urban structure, using instruments such
as regeneration or revitalization.
The development of new urbanization areas
should focus on the use of low fertility land,
near the over and underground connecting
infrastructure, coupled with public transport
access, to link employment areas to
settlements.
Municipalities should develop new conditions
for their urban development regulations, such
as the land permeability / penetrability
coefficient for urban blocks, to ensure
increased land absorption during precipitation
periods, thus guaranteeing higher efficiency
of the sewerage systems, as well as to reduce
the impact of catastrophes that may be
caused by flooding.
Development poles
“Regional development pole” - means a
territorial space that includes one or more
territorial structural units identified by
the ICSPs as the polycentric development
centres of the region, focusing on one or
several sectors. These territories, depending
on the primary focus, should be developed
through such instruments as redevelopment,
regeneration, revitalization, aiming at the
efficiency of the use of territorial resources,
and creating opportunities to use the territory
in two or more functions.
These spaces, when presenting the need for
revitalization with a focus on housing and
the community should be developed within
urban areas, to foster focus and efficiency in
services. Their development should not be
promoted outside the ring-road or bypasses
systems of urban centres, so as not to
create urban sprawl. These interventions
should create redevelopment opportunities
for buildings, territory as well as for
communities.
The strategic poles and areas of urban
densification should be supported by
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