Annual Review of TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS JOURNAL OF THE WESTERN BALKAN NETWORK ON TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE (TG-WeB) Territorial Agenda EU versus China Participatory for the Western Balkans Investments in the Region Planning and Resilience SMEs and Economic Decarbonisation of Agricultural Land Development Public Transportation Consolidation Publishers December 2019 Print ISSN: 2706-637 Issue 1 2019 Annual Review of TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS JOURNAL OF THE WESTERN BALKAN NETWORK ON TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE (TG-WeB) Annual Review of Territorial Governance in the Western Balkans Journal of Western Balkan Network on Territorial Governance (TG-WeB) Issue 1 December 2019 Print ISSN 2706-6371 Editor-in-Chief Dr. Rudina Toto Editorial Manager Ledio Allkja Editorial Board Prof. Dr. Besnik Aliaj Dr. Dritan Shutina Dr. Sotir Dhamo Dr. Peter Nientied Dr. Marjan Nikolov Prof. Dr. Sherif Lushaj Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cotella Dr. Dragisa Mijacic Language Editors Maren Larsen Design Brisilda Ymeraj Aida Ciro Esmerina Hidri Scope: Annual Review of Territorial Governance in the Western Balkans is a periodical publication with select policy briefs on matters related to territorial governance, sketching the present situation, the Europeanisation process, the policy and the research and development agenda for the near future. The publication targets policy-makers and policy-influencing actors. Copyright @2019 Co-PLAN, Institute for Habitat Development and POLIS Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or disseminated, in any form, or by any means, without prior written permission from the Publishers, to whom all requests to reproduce copyright material should be directed, in writing. Publishers December 2019 Table of Contents Editorial 6 Cooperate on Territorial Governance to Address Major Development Challenges in Europe 8 Kai Böhme From Space in Transition to Space of Transit - Risks and Opportunities of European and 16 Chinese Investments in the Western Balkan Region Giancarlo Cotella, Erblin Berisha Strengthening Cooperation for Spatial Planning - A Case Study on Participatory Planning 27 in Albania Fiona Imami, Kejt Dhrami Territorial Governance through Spatial Planning in Albania and Kosovo 42 Ledio Allkja Decentralisation and Local Economic Development in Albania 53 Merita Toska, Anila Bejko (Gjika) Tourism Governance in Albania - An Assessment of the Policy Framework for the Tourism 69 Sector in Albania Aida Ciro Consolidation of Agricultural Land - A Case from Albania 86 Sherif Lushaj, Luiza Strati, Vezir Muharremaj Measuring the Performance of SMEs for Evidence - Informed Economic Development 98 Policies in Albania Godiva Rëmbeci Decarbonisation of the Public Transport Sector in Tirana 107 Rodion Gjoka, Gerti Delli Resilience, Uncertainty, and Adaptive Planning 120 Simin Davoudi Abbreviations 130 6 Annual Review of Territorial Governance in the Western Balkans, I, 2019, 06-07 EDITORIAL All Western Balkan countries share, despite their diversity and idiosyncrasies, a common aspiration for a future within the European Union, similarities with respect to development and integration agendas, as well as face imperfections of their planning systems and Territorial Governance (TG) practices. The current socio-political ambitions and regional dynamics in the Western Balkan Region, call for societal actors to actively participate in the discourse on territorial governance. Territory as a policy dimension and as a resource, is inherent to any decision-making that addresses sustainable development, socio-ecological interactions, and resilience. Political dynamics also build on the territory, distressing territorial functionalities and capital, both vital to the mere existence of the society, and shared in common by communities. Such a complexity is highly present in the Western Balkan, a region where diversity and commonalities are utterly intertwined and deeply rooted in its historical course. Such a complexity, is also understood to underpin the challenges faced by the region in its efforts to integrate internally and with the European Union, hence pursuing the path set by the Berlin Process. The Western Balkan Network on Territorial Governance,1 a group of civil society organisations and researchers believes that a prosperous, cohesive, yet diverse Western Balkans demands for territorial governance and necessitates cooperation: cooperation between places, actors, and sectors, with sustainable territorial development as the final aim. As part of the societal actors, the Network, which comprises of civil society actors based in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, believes that cooperation should be nourished from the bottom-up, with non-state actors inducing and driving governments towards endorsing a common approach for the region. Yet, while this process is desirable, it is also complex and necessitates well-versed stakeholders to shape it. In this frame, the Network proposes the ‘Annual Review of Territorial Governance in the Western Balkans’, an annual periodical, as a platform for informed policy interaction, aiming at bringing together research and policy-influencing actors, to enable good territorial governance in the Western Balkan Region, in line with its sustainable development goals and European Union integration ambitions. This periodical welcomes contributions focusing on territorial development and governance matters in the Western Balkans, as well as context framing articles with varying territorial perspectives, relevant to the territoriality and developments in the Western Balkans countries. As such, all articles aim to bring a policy outlook relating to sectors, institutional capacities, polycentricity in place-based governance, politics of the territory, and geostrategic decisions that affect the region. 1 Hereinafter referred to as the Network. Editorial 7 In this first issue, the Network is pleased to share contributions that explore the relationship between the need for a pan-European territorial agenda post-2020, impact of infrastructure investments from China in the Region, land and economic development, and spatial planning that is evolving towards being participatory and adaptive. This issue is a first milestone in the Network’s knowledge exchanging and sharing efforts for catalysing a regional discourse on the so much needed territorial governance approaches. Sincerely, Rudina Toto Editor-in-Chief 8 Annual Review of Territorial Governance in the Western Balkans, I, 2019, 08-15 https://doi.org/10.32034/CP-TGWBAR-I01-01 Cooperate on Territorial Governance to Address Major Development Challenges in Europe Kai Böhmea Summary In Europe (not just the EU), societal and territorial fragmentation, along with spatial inequalities are a growing challenge to the development of our places and societies. They are further fuelled by exogenous and endogenous development trends that affect future spatial developments. This article provides a quick glance at major development trends shaping Europe’s future development and outlines what these trends imply for societal and territorial fragmentation before reflecting a few possible policy responses. The potential of the new Territorial Agenda for the European Union (EU), to be agreed upon in autumn 2020, and the idea of a place- sensitive approach to investments are underlined as possible ways forward. In both cases, territorial governance and the possibility of motivating a wide range of actors to commit to putting the new Territorial Agenda – or a place-sensitive approach to investment – into action are essential. Combatting territorial fragmentation and spatial inequalities requires a wide range of collaborative efforts. Keywords: Territorial Governance, Fragmentation, Territorial Agenda, Functional Mismatches, Place Sensitive Contact [email protected] (Corresponding author) Spatial Foresight, Heisdorf, Luxembourg, www.spatialforesight.eu Cooperate on Territorial Governance to Address Major Development Challenges in Europe 9 Introduction 3-D printing, digitisation, and artificial intelligence. In this article I argue that it is high time for Environmental trends including climate powerful responses to increasing territorial change, loss of biodiversity, and pollution fragmentation and spatial inequalities in of the seas may change our territories Europe. In the first section, I address the issue or at least lead to substantial policy of spatial inequalities and how future trends responses, such as the decarbonisation risk to increasingly drive apart people and of energy production and consumption – places in Europe. Based on my experience from transport and industry to electricity working with Spatial Foresight and the and heating. Environmental trends will Territorial Thinkers on various assignments also provoke changes in the field of linked to territorial policies in Europe, the sustainable mobility. At the European second section outlines some ideas on how level, environmental policies will need to address fragmentation and increasing to address the challenges resulting spatial inequalities. Finally, the third section from these overall developments, from provides conclusions and summarises ideas biodiversity and eco-system services to for possible ways forward. an economic transition towards circular and eco-system-based approaches.