CITIZENS AS CO-DESIGNERS: URBAN DESIGN THINKING POTENTIAL TO FOSTER COLLECTIVELY-PREFERRED NEIGHBORHOODS IN TIRANA

Abstract

The way how urban environments are being used and understood is habitually changing. The complexity of political, environmental, social, and economic aspects has affected them going through a reconstruction designing process different from the traditional one. The recent bottom-up approaches to designing urban spaces involves residents among other stakeholders in the design process. However, integrating them appropriately in the design process is considered critical. Further exploration on effective and successful involvement of the citizen designers is mandatory. This stands for the subject matter of this thesis. This thesis highlights the potentials of Urban Design Thinking, a human-centered approach that tackles and redefines problems, understands the users, and provides sustainable solutions, might be a practical approach to engage citizens in the early stages of the urban design process.. Through implemented case studies, this thesis concludes that urban design thinking provides tangible solutions through a methodological framework for continuous co-creation and user participation in urban area development, which allows identifying the problem holistically. Co-creation enhances citizen's impact on their environment, promoting individual and shared values. Finally, I contextualize co-creation dynamics within an ongoing project ‘The Open doors’ which aims to generate potential co-creational scenarios for sustainable 5 urban development. The study employs a qualitative method following the grounded theory as a research strategy. The co-creation elements identified from the case studies analysis are as well explored within the case project. After analyzing the semi-structured interviews, the result are evaluated as a lengthy explanation that recognizes elements divide and intersect.