Urban Regeneration Strategies of Albanian Industrial Sites

Industrial heritage is representing valuable tangible and intangible resources and characterized by identification processes which must involve different actors and procedures. Their management must be prepared at other scales (local, national and regional), depending on the changes over time so as to promote sustainable development. Today it's a common issue because many world historical properties are excluded from the management system. The main aim of this paper is to identify and study the development of Albanian Industrial Heritage. After the communist period many of the most important industrial sites was in obsolescence, dismantled and neglected for many years. Many of them was destroyed and private warehouses replaced the previous industrial settlements, while others experienced functional transformations either to other industrial uses or to different types. The second aim is to offer evidence, systematize and archive the most important industrial sites in Albania, with a focus on three case studies. The study provides useful information about the history of industrial development and typologies of Albanian industrial buildings and discusses in details the methodologies associated with the reutilization of abandoned industrial sites.