Investigation of green space changes in Tirana-Durres region

ENKELEJD LEKAJ; ZYDI TEQJA*

Department of Horticulture and Landscape architecture; Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania.

*Corresponding author e-mail: zteqja@ubt.edu.al

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Abstract

Albania is still in a transition period. After 1990 it has gone through very rapid change processes in almost all social-economic aspects of life. An important part of these changes is the rural/urban population structure. In 1989 in urban areas lived just 35.5% of the population while in 2011 it was over 53%. Actually 41.4% of Albanian population lives in Tirana-Durres region. In this area now the main economic operators are concentrated. The urbanization process in many cases has been illegal and has caused serious damages to public spaces and has disturbed the ecosystem services both in urban and rural areas. Green space is a crucial element of sustainable management and should be a key instrument to guide future territory management and planning. Green space types of Tirana-Durres region in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018 are investigated based on the elevation data and land use/cover for those years. Spatiotemporal changes of different types of green space were evaluated. The results show that between 2000 and 2018 arable land in west lowland area and forests in hilly and mountain areas were the main types of green space both in Tirana and Durres prefectures. The investigation revealed that large areas of cultivated land in suburban areas of the main cities of the region were changed to other types of land cover, mainly artificial surface. The findings of this research could help the process of green space management and planning.

Keywords: Green space, land cover, Tirana-Durres region