Tirana, the new Barcelona?
5 days to understand, get inspired, and… to set foot in Tirana before everyone else! Explore a Mediterranean metropolis undergoing profound transformation.
Tirana Metropolitan Seminar, Albania – June 1 to 5, 2026
Why Tirana?
European, Balkan, and Mediterranean at once, the Tirana-Durrës area has experienced accelerated transformation over the past fifteen years, combining ecological transition, architectural appeal, and strong real-estate returns. A trajectory reminiscent of Barcelona in the 1990s, it is now attracting growing international interest.
On April 30, 2025, the daily newspaper Le Monde ran the headline:
“Tirana, the capital of Albania, a new construction site for architects from around the world,”
highlighting the spectacular emergence of one of the last European capitals to reinvent itself after decades of isolation, within the context of the European Union accession process.
An immersive and action-oriented urban seminar
Designed as a field immersion, this Metropolitan Seminar offers a concrete reading of Tirana’s urban dynamics.
Alongside institutional stakeholders, designers, and local observers, you will discover the emblematic projects shaping today’s metropolis, as it grapples with its geographic, heritage, and environmental legacies.
These exchanges open up current and forward-looking lines of reflection for all Mediterranean actors involved in urban development: elected officials, technical staff, urban planners, architects, ecologists, and territorial decision-makers.
Two major themes at the heart of the program
- June 1 to 2, 2026 – Tirana, a new global hub for architecture and urban projects
Two days to visit the main urban projects with national stakeholders and to take part in the international architecture event “Bread and Heart Festival.” - June 3 to 4, 2026 – Tirana, a resilient city
Two days to understand the city’s harmony with living systems and the construction of the water–food–energy nexus.
Two participation options
Option 1
5-day participation
Seminar from Monday, June 1 to Friday, June 5, 2026
Participation fee: €500
- Site visits and meetings with local stakeholders
- Peer-to-peer participatory workshops
- Conferences and roundtables
- End-of-seminar syntheses
- 1 meal per day covered by AVITEM
Who is this seminar for?
Urban and territorial development professionals:
- architects, urban planners, landscape architects
- elected officials and local authority staff
- academics, researchers, experts
- public and private decision-makers
Proficiency in French and/or English required.
Option 2
2-day participation
Seminar on June 1–2 or June 3–4, 2026
Participation fee: €300
Practical information
Welcome reception on Sunday, May 31 at 5:00 p.m.
End of the seminar on Friday, June 5 at 12:00 p.m.
Contact-us
Marie Baduel
Urban Planner – Economist, Deputy Director of AVITEM
Email : m.baduel@avitem.org
Tel : 06 46 10 22 70
Lisa Brenier
Training Project Officer
Email : l.brenier@avitem.org
Tél: 07 57 57 87 05
Publications: Metropolitan Booklets Collection
10 years of knowledge produced through the Metropolitan Seminars
The learning outcomes, reflections and collective proposals from each seminar are published in the form of Metropolitan Booklets, an analytical framework for understanding territories, accessible to professionals, researchers, students and informed citizens.
The Coordination Team
A specialist in planning at all scales, from territorial strategies to urban projects. She has overseen two major international tenders as contracting authority: Val de Durance and Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis. She is also the lead author of The Metropolis by Design: Aix-Marseille Provence.
A specialist in large-scale planning and project implementation.His work includes the tourism development plan for Sicily, the first strategic framework for South Lebanon, and the Greater Algiers project, for which he was responsible. An Associate Professor at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, he is the author of numerous publications.
At the AFD Campus since 2019, her missions include designing training programs for executives and elected officials of local authorities. She also conducts research on citizen participation in informal neighborhoods within urban public policies in Africa.
An expert in Euro-Mediterranean project engineering and decentralized cooperation. A graduate of a Franco-German program in applied political science, in 2023 she co-designed the international conference “Urban Ecology in the Lower Nile Valley” at the Center for Economic, Legal and Social Studies and Documentation in Cairo.