With the announcement of the candidacies for mayor of Prishtina, it is clear that this race presents a combination of candidates with the necessary academic and professional preparation to provide solutions to the capital’s problems. However, experience teaches us that excellent CVs are not always a guarantee of successful governance.

Let’s recall the initial enthusiasm for the Vetëvendosje (VV) candidate in the 2013 local elections, Shpend Ahmeti, who had university training from Harvard, and later for the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) candidate in the 2021 local elections, Përparim Rama, a London-educated architect. Yet, despite their professional backgrounds, their governments did not fulfill the promises or the expectations of the citizens of Prishtina.

The local elections of October 12 are approaching, and the problems requiring the attention of candidates for Prishtina remain almost the same as in previous years. This is easily confirmed in several reports measuring the perceptions of the capital’s residents over time.

For example, in 2009, a report by the GAP Institute, an institute focused on public policy analysis, showed that citizens listed the main problems of the capital as heavy traffic, lack of parking, lack of drinking water, poor maintenance of collective buildings, lack of green spaces and the city’s unattractive appearance. In the following report of 2013, almost the same problems were repeated: urban transportation, lack of drinking water, insufficient parking spaces, lack of green spaces, environmental pollution and the absence of sports fields and recreational areas. The same issues appeared again in the report published ahead of the 2017 local elections. Similar problems also characterized the election platforms of candidates in the 2021 local elections.

From what we have seen so far from the candidates for Prishtina, especially those who have already entered the pre-campaign, their promises continue to target the same problems — the lack of a city that truly serves its residents.

But the problem is not the lack of diversity in the solutions offered by candidates for the mayor of Prishtina, but their implementation. Regardless of who takes office, the chronic problems of Prishtina remain unresolved.

12 reasons why Prishtina does not serve its citizens

Jens Gehl, an architect and researcher of public life, a field focused on the quality of life in public spaces, is one of the leading advocates for urban design that prioritizes citizens’ well-being. To design the best possible shared public spaces, Gehl has outlined 12 criteria that should be considered.

These criteria should guide every candidate running for mayor of Prishtina and be reflected in their election platforms.

Gehl’s 12 criteria are divided into three subgroups: safety, comfort and entertainment. The first, safety, includes protection from accidents and traffic, protection from attacks and noise pollution. Next is comfort, which relates to easy access to public spaces for everyone, opportunities to sit or rest, and the ability to play games, socialize, and engage in other activities. Finally, entertainment concerns the aesthetics of public spaces, their adaptation to climatic conditions and their usability throughout the year.

Viewed through the lens of Gehl’s 12 criteria for a quality urban life, Prishtina falls short in almost every aspect.

In terms of safety, the city does not provide adequate protection from accidents and traffic, leaving pedestrians and cyclists at risk daily. Many neighborhoods lack public lighting, stray dogs pose threats and high levels of pollution make the city unsafe. Laws on noise pollution are rarely enforced, while flooding and the odor of sewage after rainfall further complicate the use of public spaces.

In terms of comfort and entertainment, public spaces in Prishtina remain largely inaccessible to people with disabilities, parents with children and pedestrians in general, as sidewalks are often occupied by parked cars. Parks and rest areas lack benches and functional spaces for games or social interaction, and the few that exist are poorly maintained and quickly deteriorate. Furthermore, the city’s aesthetic appearance remains unappealing, and public spaces are not adapted to the climate: in summer they offer little shade, while in other seasons, they provide inadequate protection from dust and wind.

Based on these 12 criteria, Prishtina fails to provide quality urban living, despite being the capital having the largest municipal budget in Kosovo.

Yet solutions to improve Prishtina’s quality of life have never been lacking. They were even reflected in Rama’s electoral platform when he was elected mayor of the city in 2021. As part of the “Practical Prishtina” plan, Rama promised infrastructural changes and a new traffic hierarchy, giving priority first to pedestrians, then public transport, and finally cars. Four years later, what has actually been achieved?

Despite promises to transform public transport, the lines remain congested, buses arrive late at stations, and some neighborhoods have no service at all, making it difficult for citizens to rely on public transport as an efficient alternative to ease traffic.

Early in his mandate, Rama closed “George Bush” street — the segment from the cathedral to the “Grand” hotel — with the intention of transforming it into a pedestrian square. The plan aimed to give pedestrians a dedicated space while relieving traffic through the construction of the inner ring road.

However, after four years, no progress has been made. Traffic has only worsened. The failure to implement this project has been attributed to several factors, including interventions by the Institute for the Protection of Monuments, conflicts over competence and political tensions between central and local authorities

Meanwhile, to manage the chaos of parking on sidewalks, the public enterprise “Prishtina Parking” was established during Rama’s mandate. In addition to overseeing on-street parking, the enterprise aimed to generate municipal revenue and modernize payment systems through digital platforms. Its operations included setting fees, imposing fines, blocking or confiscating vehicles for non-payment, and restricting access based on payment methods.

However, in May 2025, the Supreme Court annulled the main provisions of the regulation granting the enterprise these powers, ruling that they violated constitutional rights. With the removal of the authority to block or confiscate vehicles, revenues fell sharply and operations were practically paralyzed. Even without the Supreme Court’s decision, “Prishtina Parking” had not succeeded in banning parking on sidewalks reserved for pedestrians.

Beyond this, one of Rama’s promises was “Clean Prishtina,” which focused on green mobility and the creation of green parks. Similar to the governments before him, the lack of green spaces remains a major problem for citizens. According to a UN-Habitat report, residents of Prishtina have only 2.9 square meters of green space per capita — far below the minimum standard of nine square meters required by the World Health Organization (WHO). A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also found that final building inspections in Prishtina are incomplete and that most buildings fail to meet green space criteria.

Citizens continue to face severe air pollution, with 99% of children exposed to levels above the safe limits set by the WHO. Among European countries, Kosovo also has the highest rate of respiratory diseases due to air pollution, the highest rate of premature deaths and the largest methane emissions from waste.

Another problem identified in nearly every election is the municipality’s failure to properly maintain public spaces. Many areas of the city are unmanaged, becoming sources of pollution and urban decay. Rama’s term in office was also marked by challenges in waste management, particularly due to conflicts between the Municipality of Prishtina and the regional waste management company, “Pastrimi,” which left the city reeking of waste for days.

The lack of an urban plan, combined with the proliferation of high-rise buildings, heavy traffic, inefficient waste management and poorly maintained public spaces, has made Prishtina an unattractive city.

About a century ago, Mehdi Frashëri, an intellectual and former prime minister of Albania, expressed concern about the pronounced lack of beauty and public spaces in Albanian cities. He highlighted the absence of parks, artistic spaces, libraries, and community centers — essential elements not only for rest and recreation but also for cultural and social development. Frashëri stressed the importance of these elements, noting that people need spaces to rest, gather with friends and family, walk in parks or beautiful places, engage in sports, and enjoy music or theatre.

Prishtina still has the same problems. Every mayor who has governed the city, even when successfully completing public projects, has paid little attention to their aesthetic aspects or to how these projects could enhance the well-being of citizens.

Does this reveal something about the nature of power and the culture of Kosovo’s political elites? Urban sociologist Lewis Mumford would argue that it does. According to him, a city’s streets, squares, building facades, public toilets, the interiors of residential buildings, and the layout of sewage and wastewater networks — all elements that occupy the city’s material space — reflect the nature of the power that governs it and the culture of its leading elites. One can only wonder how Mumford would have assessed the nature of power in Kosovo and the culture of its political elites had he visited Prishtina.

Thus, mayoral candidates should not try to deceive citizens again with unrealistic videos or visual representations showing how Prishtina will be completely transformed in four years. We recall the six-minute video of former mayor Ahmeti during the 2017 elections, titled “Prishtina 2021, a city in every neighborhood,” which listed promises for the radical transformation of all neighborhoods. Similarly, the campaign video of the current mayor, Rama, titled “Projects 2021-2025,” presented a radically different Prishtina by 2025 through seven and a half minutes of video designs.

What the capital truly needs is a mayor who focuses on solving chronic problems. Futuristic promises are useless if the basic issues that would make Prishtina a livable city for residents of all ages remain unresolved.

Feature image: Atdhe Mulla / K2.0

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