International Conference and Chapter Meeting
Youth Space & Urban Transformation
Pristina, Kosovo | April 5th - 8th, 2018
Young people in cities around the world are mobilizing to advance sustainable urban development. Perhaps nowhere in Europe is it right now more vital than in Pristina – the capital city of Europe’s newest and youngest country – where half the population is under the age of 25. A place that was not long ago torn apart by war is today a place filled with young people and possibilities.
Following the end of the Kosovo War in 1999, Pristina experienced a population boom that dramatically changed the built environment. The number of inhabitants doubled in just a few years and a rapid, post-war reconstruction resulted in unregulated, uncontrolled urban growth that created serious structural and functional challenges for the future. Today, a new generation of governance and youth-led initiatives are taking immediate action to improve the quality of urban life and public spaces.
This AIA Europe International Conference will explore the ways young architects, planners, and a vibrant scene of urban creatives are energizing the sustainable transformation of Pristina and Tirana, the capital of neighboring Albania.
In addition to presenting their cities' latest projects and goals, the conference will also present the outstanding yet hardly-known buildings of late socialist modernism like the National Library of Kosovo, which recently received a Getty Foundation "Keeping It Modern" Grant, awarded to Modernist buildings "of the highest architectural significance" around the globe. A local team of young activists has secured the grant is now rallying behind its restoration and nomination for national protection.
Through lectures and panel discussions, site visits, and a concurrent student design competition, this three-day architecture and urbanism conference will augment the youth perspective on sustainable urban development.
Bardhyl Rama, Intl Assoc AIA, Conference Committee Chair : Bardhyl.rama@aiaeurope.org
