RETHINKING GJIROKASTRA_ B. ALIAJ, L. ROSSI, LL. KUMARAKU
Author: Prof. Dr. Besnik Aliaj, Dr. Loris Rossi, Dr. Llazar Kumaraku
Affiliation: POLIS University
Abstract
This Workshop is a research activity organized annually under the framework of the International PhD Program of POLIS University (Albania) and Ferrara University (Italy), in the fields of Architecture and City Planning. Aimed at the 35th PhD cycle candidates, the workshop builds on the previous and ongoing research work, focusing in the territorial, city and architecture scales, and is developed under the framework of the Scientific Research Department (R&D Faculty) in cooperation with the Observatory of the Mediterranean Basin (OMB) a sub-unit if IF Innovation Factory, at POLIS University which is a “center of excellence” in housing, planning and development with focus on sustainability and resilience, established din cooperation with Co-PLAN Institute, Ministry of Finance of Albania, and UNECE. Each year the research activity promoted by the PhD workshop is aimed at a specific topic, which is then opens for debate and critical analysis by each PhD student individually, in order to develop their capacity for operating, within any given planning context, by developing theoretical tools, able to generate design processes and new research paths. This year’s topic will concern the case of Gjirokastra UNESCO city, as one of the key cities in Southern Albania with a high risk of depopulation. The historical city patterns is questioned under the cultural challenge of “Shrinking Cities”, an international research platform created and coordinated by Philipp Oswalt in between 2002-2008 . The social and political crises addressed by the Albanian nation in the past has opened a critical debate between local authorities and the different cultural disciplines like city planning, architecture, art, journalism and philosophy. One of the main objectives of this International PhD workshops since 2015 is to collect multidisciplinary experiences coming from different fields of architectural knowledge, in order to consolidate a group of researchers and professionals with a capacity to accept new complexity and challenge for the future urban crises, thanks to a multi- disciplinary approach.
ALIAJ, Besnik, Eranda JANKU, Ledio AALKJA, Sotir DHAMO. Albania 2030 Manifesto. A national spatial development vision. Tirana: POLIS Press, 2014. https:/issuu.com/polisuniversity/docs/ albania_2030
OSWALT, Büro Philipp, 2002. shrinking cities. [Online] Available at: http:/www.shrinkingcities.com/index. php%3FL=1.html [Accessed 25 november 2019].
Previuos Applied Research activites developed within the Applied Reaserch Department, Observatory of the Meditarranean, OMB Unit:
Durana (2015): https:/issuu.com/polisuniversity/docs/durana
Albanian Riviera (2016): https:/issuu.com/polisuniversity/docs/omb2_ albanian_riviera
When a River Flows (2018): https:/issuu.com/ polisuniversity/docs/omb3_when_a_river_flows
Projecting Shkodra (2018): https:/issuu.com/polisuniversity/docs/omb4_ projecting_shkodra
Prishtina. The new Image of the City (2019) https:/ issuu.com/polisuniversity/docs/omb5_prishtina
Rurban Sequences. Inquiries on Dropull’s states of 267 Liminality (2020)
https:/issuu.com/polisuniversity/docs/rurban_
sequences_dropull
ALIAJ, Besnik, Keida LULO, Genc MYFTIU. Tirana the Challenge of Urban Development. Slovenia: Ceti edition, 2003.
JOJIC, Sonia, Sustainable tourism as a driving force for branding Gjirokastra. Creative Tourism and Tourism for all, as enhancers of Culture Tourism in achieving sustainable development, IDAUP PhD Thesis Cycle XXX, 2017. (POLIS Library)
PAPA, Dorina, Visual perception of the historic city image. An urban approach to integrate the residual margin of the historical area, IDAUP PhD Thesis Cycle XXX, 2017. (POLIS Library)
PEDATA, Laura, Detroit Shrinking city, in Unintended Landscape. Reevaluating the Potential of Residual Landscape in Tirana’s Future Development Strategies. IDAUP PhD Thesis Cycle XXX, 2017. (POLIS Library)
ROSSI, Loris. «Tirana Interrupted.» FORUM A+P 16, 2015: 78-87.
ROSSI, Loris, Pedata Laura, Multi-scale reading of a city’s resilience in: Pristina New European Capital. Image of a city to be discovered. (Loris Rossi, Besnik Aliaj, Ed.) Tirana: POLIS Press, 2019, pp. 14, 17. ISBN / 978-9928-4459-8-8 (OMB series) 78- 9928-4563-0-4 (V. 5)
ROSSI, Loris, Fragments as methodology / an overview of OMB's research in: Projecting Shkodra. Operative fragments between lake, river and sea. (Loris Rossi, Besnik Aliaj, Enrico Porfido Ed.) Tirana: POLIS Press, 2018, pp.12,21. [ISBN] 978-9928- 4459-8-8 (OMB series) 978-9928 4459-9-5 (V.4) UNGERS, Oswald Mathias et al., The city in the city. Berlin: A Green Arcchipelago. Zurich, Switzerland, Lars Muller Publishers, 2013
Vv.Aa. Tirana Metropolis. Edited by Joachim DECLERCK, Bart MELORT, Marc RYAN e Martino TATTARA. Rotterdam: Berlage Institute, 2004.
