EXTENSION OF CITIES -INNOVATIONS AND ISSUES IN THE ENVIRONMENT

The environment nowadays is unequally used in different parts of the world and is threatened by many factors. Its protection and preservation is a necessity not only for present-day generations but also for future generations. With the growth of industry, common trade and global impacts, urbanization seems to attract the whole population to it, including the villages. Urbanism brings industrial, socio-cultural and economic development, but does the natural environment embrace this positive innovation? According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) report, urban areas in developing countries will absorb most of the world's population growth, with 67% of people living in cities by 2050. Urban growth is currently the largest force of impact on land use in Europe, where peri-urban areas have reached a four-fold "development" of cities and towns. In these tendencies, integrated urban management can increase the environmental elasticity of European cities, particularly in the east and south. Although a country with a "modest" population compared to the mega­tendencies analyzed by the European Environment Agency, Albania is part of the tendencies affecting developing countries, especially in the last 25 years. This movement has been towards big cities (Tirana, Durres, Vlore) and precisely in peri-urban areas, with an unregulated urban extension and less environmentally in terms of public services.