The Return of the Piazza: Tirana, and the Politics of Urban Renaissance

This essay discusses about the renovation project for Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, designed by Belgium office 51N4E. The text put forward a critical reading of the project within the framework of the politics of the ‘Urban Renaissance’, launched by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2013. The essay is structured in three parts. The first part retraces the main historical context and the problematics of the city of Tirana since the fall of the socialist system. The second part is focused on the description and the close reading of the project, highlighting the formal aspects and the approach adopted by the architects in relation to the preexistences and historical buildings around the square. Before the realization of the project, Albania was characterized by a new wave of optimism which in the 2010s saw the interest of many young motivated foreign architects participating in competitions and public commissions. Things started later to change also as a result of the realization of the project for Skanderbeg Square, introducing in Tirana problems related to gentrification and real estate speculation. Ultimately, the third part analyzes in a critical manner the effects and the afterlife of the Square, a project that could be understood as the return of the traditional piazza, both as an architectural artefact, but also as an ideology.