Revitalization of the New Bazaar/ TID Tirana
The Albanian-American Development Foundation, working in conjunction with the Municipality of Tirana in a project aiming the development of an Exemplar Mixed Use Quarter at New Bazaar and Avni Rustemi Square, Tirana. The project provided the opportunity to use the prospect of capital improvement – and the value that it will create – to encourage the private sector to participate fully in the establishment of a sustainable place management organization. One of the targeted outcomes would be to provide Tirana with its first Tourism Improvement District (TID) type mechanism. In this framework, Co-PLAN coordinated and conducted the fieldwork research and established a baseline set of data regarding public space and public life along the New Bazaar Quarter. Counts, surveys, questionnaires were at the center of a field study. The list of quantified aspects of the New Bazaar Street included: pedestrian and cyclist movement patterns and volumes, commercial activity in the market place, and age/gender perceptions where possible. 300 pedestrian intercept surveys and 120 business surveys were also conducted to shed light on several aspects of the perception of the New Bazaar’s quality in the eyes of its users and merchants. Co- PLAN provided also a brief, in giving advice on the broader city and national policy context in how planning and other statutory instruments can assist in the development of robust Development and Management Plans.