Paper Title
URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE IN TIRANA HOW TO IMPROVE PUBLIC AWARENESS

Abstract
Abstract - I will try to show a situation where “urban identity” is made of memories and feelings, while previous build tissue is slowly disappearing. Tirana is under a lot of pressure, deriving from an unthinkable desire to build and develop. One of few places, where you can still get perceptions of what life in Tirana used to be, is the area between “Rr. Dibrës” and “Rr Hoxha Tahsim”, a neighborhood where on some days’, time seems to have stopped, with cats and old people getting warmth from cold days Sun, before their old gates and stone sofas. What is special about this area is, that there are few buildings with real architectural or historical value; taken each one apart, old houses seem worthless, but together they create an urban scenery of spiritual heritage, with historical identity set on items difficult to explain that derive from human scale, narrow cobbled paths, full of little treasures but also degradation, lack of accessibility and threat from buildings of no reference beside themselves. The modern movement and the traditional methods of development have failed in creating new identities, also in space character conservation during urban regeneration, thus affecting life quality and memory of places. Urban growth can be considered a major cause for Tirana’s loss of build identity, while the existing urban morphology and intangible dimension constitute the last remains of its space singularity. The preservation of what remains, but also if its memory, is not possible without the people understanding its value, its immaterial quality that makes a bunch of houses feel like home. Keywords - Urban Identity, Places of Memory, Intangible Dimension, Public Awareness;