The challenges of applying Big Data in the urban planning practices for the developing countries. Case study in Albania

While urban populations are expanding, institutions are demanding more sustainable urban development, which has greatly increased urban planning complexity. The traditional urban planning method needs to shift in favour of an automated and optimised procedure due to the necessity to take into account social, legal, environmental, and economic factors. During the planning and decision-making phases of urban design, an important amount of data from multidisciplinary sources has to be constantly processed. Unfamiliar multidisciplinary data sets, on the other hand, can only result in confusion and ambiguity. Data Mining ensures a data-driven strategy to assist the urban design process. It refers to the process of searching for information hidden in a large amount of data through algorithms. Urban logistics can be planned more effectively using data mining technologies, which can also reduce logistics costs and speed up the development of the urban economy. A few nations are undertaking ambitious efforts to make use of this massive information bank for urban planning decision-making. But what are the pros and cons of this data-driven decision process? In Albania, although ICT infrastructure is well-developed in urban areas, connection in rural areas is still a problem. Despite the significant advancements made in this field, the application of digital tools and technology in the context of urban planning difficulties is still not fully understood. The purpose of the study is to analyze the challenges of applying Big Data and Data Mining techniques in Albania and in other developing countries in the region.