Tirana¶

Ongoing work

Prototype of the Tirana City Portrait model using the three-block structure: Analysis, Mapping, and Projection.

This notebook combines archival interpretation, OSM/GHSL-derived spatial classification, and website-ready map outputs.

Out[7]:

Block 1

Analysis

Interpretive components used to read Tirana through points, axes, patches, and archival features.

Component: Point

Landmarks, institutions, archival references, building samples, and historically significant locations.

• Skanderbeg Square
• Et'hem Bey Mosque surroundings
• Palace of Culture
• National Historical Museum

Component: Axial

Urban axes, streets, routes, planning lines, and corridors shaping Tirana's spatial transformation.

• Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit
• Rruga e Durrësit
• Rruga e Kavajës
• Lana axis

Component: Patch

Morphological zones, housing estates, historic fabrics, industrial-residential ensembles, and urban edges.

• Historic Ottoman core
• Socialist housing estates
• Kombinati
• Peripheral expansion areas

Feature: Archival Morphology

Base map layers: OpenStreetMap export through JOSM, prepared for building-level interpretation.

Statistical layers: GHSL, exposure model references, census-related settlement assumptions.

Interpretive layer: archival periods connected to morphology, actors, streets, and building complexes.

Feature Description

The analysis block links Tirana's urban evolution to observable spatial components. Points capture landmarks and samples; axes capture planning and movement structures; patches capture neighborhood-scale morphology and growth periods.

Block 2

Mapping

Spatial analysis result showing classified building-period layers derived from GHSL and OSM geometry.

Tirana Architectural Landscape

Block 3

Projection

Relational projection, clustering direction, and generated artifacts for the Tirana case study.

Graph

Future graph layer connecting urban components, archival actors, socio-political events, streets, places, and building-stock artifacts.

Relational Graph Placeholder

Reset graph

Artifact: Portrait

Compact narrative of Tirana's spatial transformation across Ottoman, monarchy, socialist, and post-socialist periods.

Artifact: Pattern

Recurring spatial patterns such as axial modernization, housing-estate expansion, industrial-residential clustering, and informal peripheral growth.

Artifact: Project

Scenario layer for clustering, interpolation, building-stock redistribution, and exposure model refinement.

Archival Data¶

The table below summarizes selected areas and neighborhood types in Tirana discussed in archival and morphological literature. Streets are listed only where relatively precise references are available.

Area / Neighborhood	Period of Evolution	Streets / Axes	Building Complexes	Socio-Political Events	Actors
Historic Ottoman Tirana core	pre-1920 → early 20th c.	Pazari i Ri Et'hem Bey Mosque surroundings Rruga Barrikadave	Courtyard houses Bazaar fabric Small plot mixed-use Commercial strips	Ottoman urban structure Tirana becomes capital (1920)	—
Monarchy-era planned capital	1920–1940	Skanderbeg Square Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit Rruga e Durrësit	Institutional ensembles Perimeter blocks (neoclassical / rationalist) Monumental civic complexes	Capital consolidation Italian planning influence	Armando Brasini Florestano Di Fausto Gherardo Bosio
Socialist centre zone	1945–1990	Skanderbeg Square Bulevardi Stalin / Dëshmorët e Kombit Lana axis	Palace of Culture National Historical Museum Central institutions State service buildings	Socialist reconstruction Centralized planning Ideological monumentalization	—
Socialist housing estates	1950s–1980s	Rruga e Kavajës Rruga e Dibrës Rruga Myslym Shyri	Prefabricated apartment blocks Standardized slab housing Neighborhood units	State housing provision Industrialized construction	—
Shallvaret	late socialist → post-socialist transition	—	Mid-rise apartment blocks Infill development	Late socialist housing intensification Post-1990 transformation	—
Kombinati	socialist industrialization → post-1990	Kombinati axis	Worker housing Industrial-residential ensembles	Industrial expansion Post-socialist decline / transformation	—
Urban edges / peripheral expansion	1990s → present	—	Informal settlements Self-built housing Recent mixed-density expansion	Mass rural-urban migration Informal urban growth Regularization processes	—

Projection Notes¶

Clustering¶

• Rule-based / event-based suggestions
• Algorithm: spatial interpolation
• Future layer: cluster archival periods with building-period classes

Building Stock Scenarios¶

• Algorithm: filter based on archival data
• Redistribute uncertain buildings using morphological and historical constraints
• Compare generated stock scenarios against GHSL, OSM, and census assumptions