The Vjosa River basin has a rugged and unique landscape with exceptionally high biodiversity. The Vjosa River is the last naturally flowing river in Europe.
This special landscape is complemented by a diversity of…
The Vjosa River basin has a rugged and unique landscape with exceptionally high biodiversity. The Vjosa River is the last naturally flowing river in Europe.
This special landscape is complemented by a diversity of historical cultural layers. The location of the Vjosa River on the Balkan Peninsula at the Mediterranean Sea has allowed many world powers, from east to west, to leave their mark. The Vjosa Valley was for centuries an important link between the European Mediterranean and western parts of Asia through its rugged landscape. Because of this, the Greek antiquity and the Ottoman Timar system, among others, have influenced the contemporary landscape.
During the communist era, the Vjosa Delta underwent modernization. In contrast, the inhospitable upper segment was left alone. In the middle segment, modernizations are visible but the river valley still has quite a few natural features. However, these features are threatened by the construction of a dam for power generation. This dam has existential consequences for the last naturally flowing river.
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The dam is an example of how Albania, as one of the poorest countries in Europe, wants to make steps forward. For the country, the EU is an example and an aspiration to develop towards. But also in the EU wrong choices were made in the past which, with today’s challenges, make our society more and more vulnerable. Our civil engineering solutions to reduce risks are not always up to the increasing extreme climate. Albania still has the opportunity to choose the right development direction to be resilient to climate change in the future.
Making the right choices requires good cooperation between local residents and the government. This relationship is now extremely strained.
With my project, I propose a design method that ensures that parties come closer together again and make the right choices together. This method is the adaptive roadmap. In this roadmap it is clear who can make which choices and what the consequences are. The roadmap clarifies the various choices for possible futures and the steps that must be taken to achieve them.
By making the right choices and learning from the negative effects of choices made by leading countries, we can work towards a sustainable future for the Vjosa Valley. The region still has the opportunity to make choices that more developed countries in Europe can no longer make. The landscape is less cultivated. This makes a transition less drastic than for other European countries. This is where the region has a “last mover advantage”.
