The State‐Architecture Nexus in Post‐Socialist Tirana: European Imaginaries and State Power

Abstract

This article examines Tirana's recent urban transformation through the lens of the state‐architecture nexus, analysing how successive Albanian regimes have mobilised architecture as a political instrument of legitimation, identity construction and geopolitical positioning. Focusing on the Bulevardi i Ri as one of the contemporary sites of intervention, the study situates current development within the broader post‐socialist transition and the neoliberal restructuring of Central and Eastern European cities. Drawing on post‐socialist urban scholarship and a cultural political economy framework, the article argues that architecture in Tirana functions not merely as a material outcome of economic change but as a key medium through which the state produces and stabilises the economic imaginary of European modernity. Based on discursive analysis, desk research and interviews with experts and residents, the paper reveals how architecture, centralised planning and the displacement of informal settlements are intertwined in a hegemonic urban project that reinforces state power while generating socio‐spatial tensions.