Nostalgia for the lost built environment of a socialist city: An empirical study in post-socialist Tirana

This paper studies nostalgia for the socialist period in Tirana departing from the city's post-socialist period frenetic urban developmental context. Informal settlements and semiformal additions characterized the postsocialist city up to the year 2000. In contrast, high-rise buildings and inner-city densification feature the later period. Such developments have worsened the urban dwelling quality and comfort, mainly due to the loss of public green spaces and sportive areas. The study aims to comprehensively evaluate nostalgia for the socialist city. To achieve this, the methodology employs sampling and surveying with Tirana citizens (N = 225). The sampling includes selection of Tirana dwellers from nine different housing typologies, who are deemed the most representative from the social class and citizenship point of view. The results show that most of the interviewees have expressed nostalgia about the lost built environment. Other forms of nostalgia reported were related to social values, and memories. A minority have not expressed any nostalgia, mostly those who are autochthonous Tirana dwellers. The form of nostalgia for socialist Tirana's lost built environment differs from forms found in other studies, defined as socio-political or cultural. It points out a nostalgia form that relies on the socialist city's positively evaluated built environment.