UNMIK/FR/0042/01
FEATURE RELEASE - June 6, 2001
Urban Planning
Lessons learned can help shape the future of Kosovo's towns
By David Kahrmann
In 1997, as looting mobs broke into state institutions in Albania
ranging from armouries to elementary schools, they met some unexpected
resistance at one school. It wasn't police or government troops barring
their entrance into the school, but rather parents and others that had
worked on a project to rebuild their local school.
The lesson
from above, and the one that was hopefully imparted to Kosovar urban
planners during their week-long seminar in Tirana with Albanian NGO (Dutch
supported) Co-Plan, is that urban planning dictated from above will never
be as effective as when the community has a say and a stake in what is
being implemented. Residents considered the school to be their school and,
as such, took measures to protect it.
Co-Plan focuses its
activities on the changes in living centres caused by social changes and
strives to support the collective welfare, especially those most in need.
Over the past four years, Co-Plan workers have gained a vast amount of
experience in helping communities to help themselves. Unlike some "hit and
run" projects, Co-Plan thinks in the long term. Projects are only
undertaken together with communities willing to work to make things
happen. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the
Department of Local Administration want to encourage such thinking in
Kosovo: this is why they invited over 20 people involved in urban planning
from Prizren and Gjakova/Djakovica to the seminar. Urban planners must
come to accept the reality that their forecasts and plans have been blown
into oblivion by the events of the past few years, and take measures to
find the best possible ways to control the damage done and move
forward.
Gjakova/Djakovica and Prizren are two old cities
with the potential to be beautiful and pleasant to live in, but like most
other Kosovo cities they are growing at a dangerous pace. The destruction
of villages forced people into the cities, but now many have opted not to
return to where they once lived. By the same measure, Kosovo Serbs have
been forced into the north or enclaves for security reasons. These areas
have also become very crowded and housing has become scarce. Cities like
Pristina and small towns like Gracanica grew exponentially.
Infrastructure that had been ignored for years is now being over-taxed in
places all around Kosovo. Urban planners need to find
solutions.
In Albania, Hoxha's oppressive regime prevented
people from moving to Tirana without permission. Now the rural poor, like
those in Kosovo, are seeking what they perceive to be better lives in the
big city. Property in the city is restrictively expensive-so, people start
building suburbs. In one outskirt of Tirana called Kamza, where the
Agricultural University once had its fields, houses started popping up.
Soon hundreds of families had built on land that wasn't theirs to build
on. But, these houses didn't have running water or sewerage, and knocking
down so many houses could have led to violence. Demolishing the first
house quickly may have prevented others from building there, but when such
a high demand exists, another settlement elsewhere is inevitable. The
challenge then was to normalize what had occurred. Residents would have to
pay for their property and help to fund the provision of services.
Co-Plan helped the residents to work out a deal with the government, which
in turn worked out a deal with the original landowner. Then, with World
Bank funds and money collected from the community, the process of
obtaining services began.
During the seminar, planners
visited Kamza and other areas where community-based urban development
projects are successfully being implemented. Seminar attendees also met
with local officials and community leaders to learn how coordination had
been carried out between different actors. Additionally, presentations and
workshops were held centred on the concept of community-based urban
planning.
As a result of the conference, Gjakova/Djakovica
planners have identified a suburb where they will try such a programme and
perhaps provide housing for up to 30,000 people. Prizren planners are also
looking into how to ensure that urban sprawl doesn't lead to slums.
Habitat has invited Co-Plan to come in June to see what their Kosovar
counterparts have come up with and to help them in implementation. Also,
at the end of June, planners from Gjilan/Gnjilane, Pejė/Pec and Pristina
will go to Tirana to attend a similar seminar. Habitat realises that urban
planning problems in Kosovo run deep. Co-Plan has shown the importance of
adopting flexible, innovative and interactive methodology to find
solutions. Now it is up to Kosovo's urban planners to work with their
communities in finding unique solutions for the unique challenges we have
in Kosovo.
Note for editors
The full document may be consulted online in
English at http://www.unmik.org/.
Albanian and Serbian versions can be provided.
For a selection of photographs, please contact Mr Ky Chung at 038 504-604 ext.5467
Contact: Peter Ellwood
(038) 504 604 Ext. 5471
E-mail: ellwood@un.org