Europeanization of Territorial Planning Practice in Albania Case Study Analysis of the General National Plan and Integrated Cross-Sectorial Plan for the Coast

Abstract

Albania’s long standing objective of becoming part of the EU reflected its impacts also in the planning system. Hence in 2006, affected by the European Integration processes but also from strong “internal” shocks the Albanian Government decided to initiate a process for reforming the planning system (Çobo, E., and Toto, R., 2010). It was decided to change from an “urban planning”, rigid, physical, technical and aesthetical process towards an integrated, comprehensive and strategic approach. According to different authors, the impacts of “Europeanization” can be seen in different ways also in the planning system (Faludi 2010). However, for the purpose of this paper the authors have decided to focus on three main aspects for the analysis such as the legal basis for territorial planning, the terminology used in the spatial planning documents and the reference to European Directives and visions, as well as the techniques of expressing visions through cartographic expression. The paper firstly tackles the complex theoretical issue of measuring a change in a planning culture in a given place by a strong discourse analysis on different publications (Gemitis 2012, Albrechts, L (2004), Othengrafen, F. (2014), Othengrafen, F. & Reimer, M. (2013), Reimer, M. Getimis, P. & Blotevogel, H. H. (2014)). Afterwards focuses on four case studies in the Albanian context to measure the level of Europeanization through the three above mentioned indicators such as legal framework, terminology and reference to EU documents and last but not the least cartographic expressions. In the end these indicators are used as a framework to analyze territorial planning experiences in the Albania at the national level (GNTP and ICSP Coast 2016) and at the local Level by comparing the evolution of the territorial planning practice in the municipality of Tirana from 2012 to 2016 (draft plan).