Around the Lagoon

The article presents the outcome of the research undertaken by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DASTU) of the Politecnico di Milano. It is the result of a program of Italian-Albanian cooperation (Urban Lab), launched in 2017 with the support of a grant from the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS) . The program’s innovative approach consists of the close association created between a physical project of spatial and landscape planning, and a job-training project addressed to local populations. The research is focused on the area of Divjakë, characterized by the protected natural site of the Karavasta lagoon. This region is exemplary of the great potential for the development of the Albanian territory, yet it also showcases significant issues; most notably how to locally transpose in a systematic and tangible manner the sustainable growth sectoral policies for infrastructures, urban development, social cohesion, agriculture and management of water, energy and waste, enunciated at the national level. The research adopts a non-sectorial approach integrated into a transcalar design vision through interpretative readings, territorial strategies and pilot projects. The aim is to verify, at the regional and local scale of Diviakë, the vision of the "territorial metabolism" launched with emphasis by the new Albanian Territorial Development National Plan. The thesis is that only an integrated and “circular” vision of the actions on the different environmental systems can produce significant effects in strengthening and relaunching the local productive landscapes.