Exploring the sense of belonging in public spaces of Tirana

To understand public space, we must first embrace the political, historical, and social situation of society. Historical events have dictated a cultural environment that cannot be ignored. The knowledge of this context thus becomes an essential step to be taken to read and understand public spaces as perceived by inhabitants’ eyes. It represents the key to comprehending the transformations and stratifications that have taken place over time in the public realm. Public space must be linked to the place and their transformation must appear, albeit in new forms, as if it had always been the same over time, improving the sense of belonging. Tradition, identity, and memory of the place are three fundamental elements that contribute to the quality evaluation of the public space. The questions that motivated this research are: ‐ Is there a historical and morphological identity of public space? Is there a tradition to preserve or a memory to recall that creates an attachment? The research investigates if and how these concepts are legible in the public spaces of Tirana. The aim is to interrogate different urban places for morphological and perceptive characteristics and identify common elements of shapes and uses. These places came out if we consider these factors: urban context, design period, and transformation scale. This research is addressed to community and planning practitioners, local authorities, architects, urban designers, etc. It is an attempt to contribute to guiding future projects toward high‐quality public spaces for Tirana, with a low risk to lose the sense of belonging.