1. Adapting to nature
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When the Romans built the Via Egnatia, wherever possible they followed the course of the river and did not try to adapt the Shkumbin to their project. Today, we are doing the opposite.
2. The country’s historic port
The Greeks and Romans did not choose Durrës by chance. Epidamnos-Dyrrachium had been an important port since the 7th century BC and later became the starting point of the Via Egnatia. Durrës was born and grew as a city precisely because of its port. Today, we are dismantling it.
3. The ancients built on hills
Just look at the historical distribution of settlements: hills, slopes, natural terraces and protected locations. Fertile land and flood-prone areas below were left untouched. On a hill, people were protected, with good ventilation and natural drainage. Today, wherever we find an open space, we make a mess of it.
4. The river’s land was not taken away
Alluvial plains were created precisely because rivers overflowed their banks and deposited sediment over the centuries. When you seize a river’s land, one day it will take it back, without notifying you or presenting a property ownership certificate.
5. Centuries-old bridges
The Mesi Bridge over the Kir River is an excellent example: 108 meters long, with 13 arches. The arches were not decorative; they allowed water to flow freely when levels rose. (The bridges were built without tenders!)
6. Cities understood the importance of shade. The orientation of buildings, courtyards, trees, thick walls and natural materials were the answer to the climate before air conditioners were invented. Even when the capital was planned in the last century, architects took air corridors and the movement of the Sun into account. Today, we have neighborhoods that never see daylight, where concrete is suffocating the city.
7. Land as an asset
From north to south, agricultural land was treated as a scarce asset, not as building territory. Without excavators or reinforced concrete, people carefully observed where the river flowed, where the mountain was prone to landslides, which way the wind blew and where the most fertile land lay.
Today, we have technology far more advanced than that of the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, yet we are destroying the only home we have to live in.
By Lutfi Dervishi
