Tirana’s new boulevard hidden potentials. Reactivation of the dismissed factories for a sustainable development of the nearby informal areas

The new boulevard is an ambitious goal which is expected to generate important outcomes in terms of urban development and regeneration of the nearby informal areas. This intervention consists in the prolongation of the existing boulevard toward an area, in part empty and in part occupied by informal buildings that blossomed after the fall of the Socialist regime in the begging of the 90s. Besides attracting private investors in the construction of the various facilities expected in the masterplan, it should also encourage the gradual urban transformation of the nearby informal areas, commonly known for their high unemployment rates and social marginalization. The public-private partnership (PPP), as model of development, is a good initiative that the public administration wants to promote, even though convincing private investors is difficult and very risky at the same time. To lower the economic risk of this consistent investment and the possible low attraction of private investors, the public administration should pursue an alternative solution that takes into a consideration the local inhabitant, the local potentials and the dismissed factories, to guarantee a sustainable and long-term development and in the same time decrease the economic efforts necessary to the construction of the new boulevard, too.