Adapting Sustainability Preserve the Memory Through Technology, for Sustainable Future Cities

The term sustainability is very common and used in a lot of fields. After Brundtland Report was published in 1987 by the United Nations, called in this way in recognition of Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Norwegian Prime Minister, Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and after the Earth Summit, in 1992 with the adoption of Agenda 21, hold in Rio de Janeiro, the term sustainability stated to be used in economy, society, environment, urban development, city, architecture, etc. Referring to Agenda 21, the preservation of the memory is very important in a sustainable development of a city, as well as the preservation of the local identity and the involvement of citizenship and different stakeholders to collaborate with each other, in a way that different individual problems can be perceived as their own by all members of the local community and the solutions could be of interest for all sectors. Representing a productive ground for architects, engineers, environmentalists and politicians, the city of Tirana is increasing its size very quickly, generating problems of preserving the identity, because of the high demand for new constructions. Increasing the value of the ground more than the value of the building itself, many existing buildings, listed as historical ones or not, have been destroyed. In this way, the city is gradually losing its historical importance, its identity and its memory. It would be of a big interest to define new ways of using technology as a tool to preserve the mental image of the city, by revitalizing virtually the lost heritage of the city of Tirana, even though part of this heritage has been erased from the city pattern. In this paper we define how architectural issues in accordance with appropriate technologies and social involvement can influence toward a sustainable urban development of the city.