1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Tirana (FUA)
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Tirana Orbital Forest
Short description of the intervention
The Orbital Forest of Tirana is an innovative urban forest that as a green belt forms a natural growth boundary for the City. Tirana has experienced rapid development in the past decades that led to population growth challenging municipal services and infrastructure, while climate change also posed extensive pressures to the urban area with intense flooding, precipitation, urban heat and degrading environment (1, 4). The Orbital Forest is a ring on the periphery of the City that connects 14,000 ha of Tirana’s parks, agricultural fields, and forests, maintaining the ecosystem and supporting biodiversity. (3, 4) The NBS aims to increase urban greenery through the plantation of 2 million trees that fit well to the existing ecosystem while also creating a natural boundary to halt urban sprawl (1,4,5). The afforestation of the Orbital Forest has been done through the “Donate a Tree For Tirana” campaign started in 2017 where citizens, businesses and international organisations can plant a tree adding to the green belt. As of 2021, more than 440,700 trees in the framework of the "Donate a Tree" campaign are also bringing urban nature closer to residents (3).
Address

Tirana
Albania

Location
The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city
Total area
140000000.00m²
NBS area
140000000.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Agricultural area or farmland
Public Greenspace Area
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2017
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2017
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
- Increase the number and size of green areas in the city for public use (1)
- Halt the unsustainable urban expansion in the form of urban sprawls (4)
- Contribute to soil erosion control and carbon sequestration (3,4)
- Improve the local air quality in the city (3,4)
- Improve local water and flood management (4)
Quantitative targets
Plantation of 2 million trees
Monitoring indicators defined
Number of tree planted
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Climate change adaptation
Climate change mitigation
Water management (SDG 6)
Flood protection
Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Climate change adaptation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Reduce the impacts of climate risks events on urban places and communities
Build resilience
Climate change adaptation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Implement measures that prevent/manage desertification, soil erosion and landslides
Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat
Climate change mitigation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Sequester and store carbon
Climate change mitigation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
Improve carbon sequestration through selection of more adaptable species
Raise public awareness of behaviours, lifestyle and cultural changes with mitigation potential
Implementation activities
- Establishment of the "Donate a Tree' campaign through which individuals, corporations and companies can also take part in the tree planting activity.
- Creation of a tree cadastre to see where and what kind of trees should be planted
- Tree planting through the "Donate a Tree" scheme following the guidelines in the tree cadastre (1,2)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Maintenance and management of urban nature
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Parks and urban forests
Large urban parks or forests
Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
Green corridors and green belts
Vegetation Type
Trees
Please specify how many trees were planted
So far 440,700 trees were planted but the aim is 2 million
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)
Air quality regulation
Carbon storage/sequestration
Flood regulation
Mediation of smell / noise / visual impacts
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Cultural services
Recreation
Scale
Spatial scale
Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Local government/Municipality
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Government-led
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The creation of the Orbital Forest as a green belt and natural boundary was initiated by the municipality of Tirana (1). As part of the General Local Plan 2030 of Tirana, the plans of the Orbital Forest was created by the Italian firm Stefano Boeri Architetti that has been approved by Tirana City Council. (1,6,7) Through a cooperation with the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, EBRD has been supporting the design and implementation process by providing a small team of experts to prepare a comprehensive technical, financial, environmental and social analysis while also providing financial support to the city. (4)
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Land owners
No information found
Public space owned by the city
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Financial institution
Citizens or community group
Land owners
No information found
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
The city of Tirana has a Local General Plan and a Green City Action Plan (GCAP) with the objective to improve its environmental challenges and address the impact of climate change in urban areas (1,6). "At the core of its GCAP, Tirana seeks to balance the need for expansion and improvement in local infrastructure, while reducing its exposure to climate risks, mitigating GHG emissions, improving local air quality and increasing resilience of local ecosystems" (4 p1). The Orbital Forest is one of the main project to achieve this goal.
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The Green City Action Plan of Tirana that builds on the policies and guidelines of the Local General Plan and has the Orbital Forest as a Municipal Forest as its flagship project. (6) The Local General Plan (TR030) including sustainability focused and environmental friendly policies also containing 13 projects aims to support the sustainable urban development of Tirana (1,7)
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
City specific green space strategy or plan
General municipal plan
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Tirana is a member of EBRD Green Cities, which supports cities to identify and address their urban environmental issues through targeted planning and investment. (4)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The municipality introduced incentives so investors can have a higher construction density and more floors in exchange for more public and green spaces to the lower levels. (1)
The municipality also introduced a a temporary tax to make cities more green, where families paid a small tax equal to a cappuccino per month and all the revenues went to trees and green spaces (1)
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
No
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
While the total costs of the project is still unknown, funds for the Orbital Forest and other NBS projects outlined in the Green City Plan of Tirana was financially supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Municipality of Tirana and the Green Climate Fund.
The tree planting within the framework of the "Donate a Tree" campaign were provided through donations. (2)
Source(s) of funding
Public local authority budget
Multilateral funds/international funding
Type of fund(s) used
Earmarked public budget
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Loan
Donations
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Private sector (businesses, financial institution)
Business models
Risk reduction model
Green densification model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Type of innovation
Unknown
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Climate change
Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters
Enhanced carbon sequestration
Environmental quality
Improved air quality
Improved soil quality
Water management and blue areas
Increased protection against flooding
Green space and habitat
Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
Increased green space area
Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
Description of environmental benefits
As of September 2021, the Orbital Forest is a still ongoing project, therefore so far only expected environmental impacts can be listed:
- Through the plantation of 2 million trees out of which 440,700 have already been planted, the green area in Tirana will considerably increase, contributing to the enrichment of local flora and fauna (1, 3)
- The planted trees are mostly trees with coniferous and/or wide leaves, as well as a combination of various wood species of continuous greenery" to improve the connectivity.
- The Orbital forest is expected to improve air quality by acting as a sink and reservoir for emissions. (1,3,4)
- As the Orbital Forest is partly located on Tirana's flood plain, it is expected to contribute to local water and flood management even more challenging due to climate change (4,5)
- The Orbital Forest as a green belt will connect 14,671 hectares of parks, agricultural fields, forests and other forms of vegetation supporting them to flourish (1)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved liveability
Improved access to urban green space
Health and wellbeing
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Increased appreciation for natural spaces
Education
Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Description of social and cultural benefits
As of September 2021, the Orbital Forest is a still ongoing project, therefore so far only expected environmental impacts can be listed. However, the 'Donate a tree' initiative already has some tangible impacts:
- With the Orbital Forest the green space per capita is expected to increase in the city and public green space is expected to be within closer proximity for citizens in the area (1).
- In the Donate a Tree campaign citizens, companies or international organisations all participated and planted trees into the Orbital Forest. Through participation, citizens learnt about the natural flora, trees and their role in urban environment (1,3)
- Through the Orbital Forest initiative and the connected campaign and Green City Action Plan of Tirana, the understanding of sustainable urban development and the importance of green spaces has increased among citizens (1)
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Number of planted trees
Green space per capita
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Voluntary work opportunities
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Improved access to green and/or blue spaces
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of September 2021
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1) Sustainable Cities Platform. (n.a.). Orbital Forest, a Balance Between the City and Nature Rediscovered. Sustainable Cities Platform. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://sustainablecities.eu/transformative-actions-database/?c=search&action_id=eu2ii6rw
2) APR. (n.a.). DHURO PEMË PËR TIRANËN. APR. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://aprtirana.al/une-dhuroj/dhuro-nje-peme/
3) Cities 4 Forests. (n.a.) Tirana, Albania - Donate a Tree for Tirana. Cities 4 Forests. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://cities4forests.com/cities/tirana/
4) EBRD. (2020.) ALBANIA, GrCF2 W1 – Tirana Orbital Forest. Technical, Economic, Financial, Environmental and Social Due Diligence, Terms of Reference. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/82188-tors.pdf
5) EBRD. (2021). Back to nature in the big city, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://www.ebrd.com/news/2021/back-to-nature-in-the-big-city.html
6) Bashkia Tirane. (2018.) Green City Action Plan of Tirana, Bashkia Tirane. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://www.ebrdgreencities.com/assets/Uploads/PDF/64623f832d/Tirana-GCAP.pdf
7) Arch Daily. (n.a.). Tirana 2030: Watch How Nature and Urbanism Will Co-Exist in the Albanian Capital, Arch Daily. Accessed on October 8, 2021. https://www.archdaily.com/805105/tirana-2030-watch-how-nature-and-urbanism-will-co-exist-in-the-albanian-capital
Comments and notes
Public Images
Orbital Forest Tirana
Orbital Forest Tirana
Source: https://www.archdaily.com/805105/tirana-2030-watch-how-nature-and-urbanism-will-co-exist-in-the-albanian-capital
Orbital Forest Tirana
Orbital Forest Tirana
Source: https://www.archdaily.com/805105/tirana-2030-watch-how-nature-and-urbanism-will-co-exist-in-the-albanian-capital