I have always been intrigued by a fundamental question: why the cities took the shape they did? Traditionally in Albania we are used to analyze the city based on the classification of its main functions. In this article I try to see the generation of the city form and its continuous transformation based on the urban form elements and their interaction with social and economic processes. The concept that the urban form is the “receptacle of meaning” (Kostov, S. 1991) is illustrated in the article through the case of Tirana. First, the article focuses on the urban elements that play an important role to “sustain the skeleton” of the urban form. The “resistance” to change posed by these elements that persisted throughout the history becomes at the same time the “source” of “form generation”, “imposing” the rules for new variations in the entire structure. Second, under this perspective the article focuses on the dynamics of the city generation and the sequential shaping and reshaping by the spontaneous movements of population, or by the planned visions. Tirana, as many other cities contains such complexity created by the overlapped layers of spontaneity and planned visions … which makes it a “real city”. Thus the article argues that the real city results from the collage collision of these structures during the history. This complexity can be considered as richness of the urban text, which “reading” / decoding requires specific abilities. This is an important issue to be considered, specifically during the analytical phase of the regulatory plans, or while preparing interventions at any scale. In this respect the article tries to lay the bases for an urban design strategy that brings more clarity in reading the existing “urban text” and specific patterns to be re-interpreted in a new frame. Finally, the article can be considered as an attempt to establish a new methodological approach in the urban design and planning in the post communist and most importantly post chaotic Albania. The article brings in focus the form generation effect of the “urban resistances” quite often hidden in the urban structure. In this respect the article recommends some important urban design tools; such as distillation (Tirana Metropolis, Berlage Institute, 2004), as a process to uncover hidden values within the urban patterns; or the “sustaining element” of the urban form. The article considers also the contrary process of the “pattern distillation” … “pattern dissolution”, which is weakening the entire urban structure of Tirana causing a lot of urban and social tensions. Thus the distillation and the consolidation of the urban patterns can be considered as a vehicle to urban sustainability that guarantees the important transition from spontaneity to a planned process and definitely to a more conscious urban condition. This strategy is extremely important in the case of Albania, specifically in Tirana, which many people think has only problems. The chaotic form at the urban and territorial scale can be cured only based on clear concepts, which require a new qualitative shift for a more conscious urban condition that can be driven by visions, including that of the professionals and the interested communities.
The city – between the morphology of chaos and order
SOTIR DHAMO
2010
Abstract
I have always been intrigued by a fundamental question: why the cities took the shape they did? Traditionally in Albania we are used to analyze the city based on the classification of its main functions. In this article I try to see the generation of the city form and its continuous transformation based on the urban form elements and their interaction with social and economic processes. The concept that the urban form is the “receptacle of meaning” (Kostov, S. 1991) is illustrated in the article through the case of Tirana. First, the article focuses on the urban elements that play an important role to “sustain the skeleton” of the urban form. The “resistance” to change posed by these elements that persisted throughout the history becomes at the same time the “source” of “form generation”, “imposing” the rules for new variations in the entire structure. Second, under this perspective the article focuses on the dynamics of the city generation and the sequential shaping and reshaping by the spontaneous movements of population, or by the planned visions. Tirana, as many other cities contains such complexity created by the overlapped layers of spontaneity and planned visions … which makes it a “real city”. Thus the article argues that the real city results from the collage collision of these structures during the history. This complexity can be considered as richness of the urban text, which “reading” / decoding requires specific abilities. This is an important issue to be considered, specifically during the analytical phase of the regulatory plans, or while preparing interventions at any scale. In this respect the article tries to lay the bases for an urban design strategy that brings more clarity in reading the existing “urban text” and specific patterns to be re-interpreted in a new frame. Finally, the article can be considered as an attempt to establish a new methodological approach in the urban design and planning in the post communist and most importantly post chaotic Albania. The article brings in focus the form generation effect of the “urban resistances” quite often hidden in the urban structure. In this respect the article recommends some important urban design tools; such as distillation (Tirana Metropolis, Berlage Institute, 2004), as a process to uncover hidden values within the urban patterns; or the “sustaining element” of the urban form. The article considers also the contrary process of the “pattern distillation” … “pattern dissolution”, which is weakening the entire urban structure of Tirana causing a lot of urban and social tensions. Thus the distillation and the consolidation of the urban patterns can be considered as a vehicle to urban sustainability that guarantees the important transition from spontaneity to a planned process and definitely to a more conscious urban condition. This strategy is extremely important in the case of Albania, specifically in Tirana, which many people think has only problems. The chaotic form at the urban and territorial scale can be cured only based on clear concepts, which require a new qualitative shift for a more conscious urban condition that can be driven by visions, including that of the professionals and the interested communities.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
