Urban Heritage and Place-making: Preservation through mobility enhancement in the Historic Centre of Prizren

Since the armed conflict ended and during a decade of state building Kosovo has gone through substantial reforms required for its European Union integration. This was reflected into its built environment including the historic areas and cultural heritage preservation. Legislation, plans, policy documents and strategies foresee an all-inclusive and a balanced way of development. Practice, however, informs the opposite as the drafted documents are hardly implemented. This paper discusses and examines the mobility in a public space in the Historic Centre of Prizren in relation to the preservation of urban heritage. The paper reveals how the institutional (non)action and, the socio-cultural and political dynamics largely affect the implementation of preservation and planning documentation. Furthermore, the paper provides spatial analysis and suggests a mobility enhancement option aiming for a car-free area as basis for further research towards a sustainable solution for the implementation in practice