Climate Change Adaptation Actions in Tirana, Albania

The study “Climate Change Adaptation Actions in Tirana” discusses Tirana’s changing weather patterns, their consequences, and the city’s climate adaptation responses.

Tirana, an Albanian city, experiences rising temperatures, leading to hotter summers and more heatwaves. In some urban areas with high building density, an urban heat island can form, increasing demand for cooling or power to cool residents.

The increasing intensity and changing patterns of rainfall either caused flooding and riverbank erosion or contributed to droughts and dry days, increasing spending on cooling and health services for the elderly and vulnerable population.

The city identified a need to integrate climate change into urban planning and decision-making across sectors such as water infrastructure, public services, and transport to address changing weather patterns.

Researchers have used a Climate Compass tool, including a vulnerability assessment, to determine the areas or sectors that need adaptation. The vulnerability assessments identified areas that need adaptation, which the study’s researchers used as case studies. 

These areas have the following characteristics:  

• highly urbanised areas with medium to high-rise buildings,
• the infrastructure that is under stress due to high population and growth, spaces with illegal structures,
• limited or no green areas,
• areas at risk for river flooding,
• areas with large roads and intensive traffic,
• poor air conditions and
• with a high risk of urban flooding.

The study has also identified good climate adaptation practices in the city. These practices include ongoing Tirana river restoration to mitigate flood risks and improve the banks; eradication of waste and river pollution; and improvements in the city centre, including the development of new Boulevards, housing areas, and green corridors, focusing on sustainable solutions, climate-friendly designs, and construction.

The study states that this ongoing climate adaptation work will produce interim results that can serve as a guide to city administrators, decision-makers, and policy-makers on how to further adaptation work. These adaptation projects are mostly structural measures—green structures, water systems, and building design.

However, the study also considers in-depth non-structural measures that can be adopted by sectors and municipalities facing similar climate change issues.

Climate adaptation is gaining momentum worldwide as governments and communities acknowledge that climate actions —both adaptation and mitigation —are sustainable in the long term, as they can reduce losses, preserve assets, and improve communities.

The study discusses practical climate adaptation solutions that communities and local governments can apply in their areas.

To know about these adaptation actions that Tirana city is doing, click the link below: