Navigating Conflicts and Paradoxes: Analyzing the Interaction of Urban Regeneration, Local Governance, and Public Policy in the Tirana Riverside Project

Abstract

This paper critically examines the Tirana Riverside Project as a paradigmatic case of post-disaster urban regeneration in Albania, unfolding amidst the dual crises of the 2019 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic. These emergencies catalysed a shift toward centralized governance and fast-track planning, enabling the implementation of large-scale projects with limited community consultation. Drawing on five intersecting theoretical frameworks—rational planning, advocacy planning, collaborative planning, the just city paradigm, and post-disaster urbanism—the study interrogates the paradoxes between technical innovation and social justice. Using a mixed-methods approach, which includes policy analysis, spatial documents, grey literature, and resident’s interviews, the study reveals deep disjunctions between the project’s smart-city vision and the lived experiences of displacement, exclusion, and institutional opacity. The findings demonstrate that resilience-oriented planning, when detached from democratic governance and procedural fairness, risks reinforcing inequality and transforming into an alibi-urbanism. The paper advocates for a post-crisis urbanism grounded in transparency, participation, and equitable recovery, particularly in contexts of fragile and contested governance and transitional countries like Albania.