The Landscape changes of the city of Shkodra as a consequence of Internal Migration

Shkodra city landscape has changed dramatically after 1990. Not only the economic transition from a centralized to a free market economy and political change from totalitarism to democracy, but the whole Albanian society and landscape was transformed. Population movement displayed in all migration typologies- international migration, internal migration, recently return migration and circular movements - has played a significant role in changing the economy, social and cultural life, the environment and also the landscape. The analysis of the internal migration and its impact in the urban areas is the main objective of this paper. It tries to define the way that in-come movements have affected the urban landscape of the city of Shkodra in a way that can also be found in other urban areas of Albania. These movements were chaotic. Their main outcome was the creation of informal areas with new and quite big dwellings, based on the help of financial remittances coming from international migration. Despite the different intensity, their typologie has been almost the same in the main cities of the western coast of Albania. It resulted in the enlargement of suburban areas, occupation of agricultural land and industrial areas, changing of demographic structure, opening of new economic activities and in the creation of new social problems. These peripheral areas have changed during the transition period. Another objective of this paper includes the statistical data collected from in-depth interviews and participant observation based on the immigrants background, their movement experience and the way integration has affected the landscape. The article also argues that the city’s landcape cannot be understood without taking into consideration internal migration