Ten years since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, Pristina struggles with corruption and pollution – but the youngest capital in Europe is full of fresh energy

Pristina is a city of constant renewal. Not only is Kosovo’s main city the youngest capital in Europe – 42% of the population is under 24 years old – but it has been completely rebuilt twice since the second world war. The first rebuild was as part of an exhortation to build a modern, socialist city as part of Yugoslavia; the second after the 1998-99 conflict with Serbia.

Although the war emptied the city of most of its ethnic Albanian inhabitants, the physical damage was confined to a few buildings. Following the war, most of the Serb residents left for nearby Gracanica or points further north, and the UN assumed control over government institutions. But crime and corruption reigned, including over the city’s urban landscape. In 2000, architect and urban planning chief Rexhep Luci, who was trying to impose law and order in a city where wealthy individuals were developing property illegally, was gunned down. His murder has still not been solved, and in 2014, when mayor Shpend Ahmeti assumed power vowing to take on powerful interests, there were some 40,000 illegally built constructions.

But, illegally or not, the city has grown rapidly since the 1998-1999 war, and its new confidence was underlined in 2008 when Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

Pristina in numbers

3500 - the number of years before the birth of Christ that the Goddess on the Throne – a clay fertility goddess from the Neolithic era which has become a symbol of Pristina – is believed to have been made.

28 - The average age of Prishtinali, as Albanians from Pristina call themselves.



5.3 – The percentage of Kosovo’s GDP that pollution and treatment for related illnesses was estimated by the World Bank in 2013 to be costing the state.

852 - the number of premature deaths every year due to pollution.



History in 100 words

The area around Pristina has been inhabited for almost 10,000 years, and grew to prominence in the medieval Serbian empire. In 1389, at the Battle of Kosovo Polje, Serbs, fighting alongside Albanian allies, lost to the Ottoman Empire, and it wasn’t until 1912 that Albanian forces took it back. But Serb forces took control, and in 1918 the city became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, a predecessor to Yugoslavia. In 1947, the capital was moved from Prizren to Pristina, at that time a small city of only 20,000 inhabitants who spoke Turkish; most of the Ottoman architecture was destroyed and replaced by communist structures.

Pristina in sound and vision

Although Dua Lipa, born in the UK to parents who left Kosovo in the 1990s, was the most-streamed female musician of 2017, it is the Kosovo-born Rita Ora who has become the city’s biggest pop symbol. She filmed her 2012 music video Shine Ya Light in Pristina, dancing atop the NEWBORN monument, a typographic structure that has become a symbol of the young country since its unveiling 10 years ago.

Last year, Pristina’s Era Istrefi courted controversy by filming a video in a Serbian Orthodox Church located on the University of Pristina campus, which was built in the 1990s when Pristina was under a system that privileged Serbs to the detriment of Albanians. The video of a scantily clad Istrefi gyrating in the nave raised the question of what will become of the church, whose few adherents left in Pristina are already served by a small church elsewhere; the university wants the space for its 60,000 students, but it remains locked up, reminding many Albanians of an unpleasant past.

How liveable is Pristina?

Although the Ottoman chronicler Evliya Celebi came to Pristina in the 1660s and noted its “abundant vineyards and gardens,” today locals complain of a lack of green space. There are very few playgrounds or parks, and on weekends many locals take to Germia, the city’s green space to the east.

Kosovars remain the only Europeans west of Belarus without access to the visa-free Schengen zone. Some 10% have sought asylum in the EU since 2008, but many have stayed to build the new state. Pristina is laid-back, full of cafes and bars catering to its young population. But residents have memories of a not so distant past when power outages were common and water was restricted to a schedule. Today, electricity is regular – which sometimes seems an astonishing feat given the bundles of electric cables hanging low over rambling streets – and in 2017 mayor Ahmeti kept his biggest campaign promise by instituting 24-hour water supply.

On the move

Pristina recently rolled out a fleet of 51 brand new eco-friendly buses, which can be tracked in real time. Informal taxis and mini-buses are prevalent, but the city has no wide avenues or boulevards, meaning that during rush hour walking is almost always faster than driving. Unfortunately, the sidewalks are often usurped by parked cars, or even businesses, making life difficult for pedestrians. One (admittedly unscientific) study found that pedestrians face obstructive obstacles on average every 200 meters.

Biggest urban risk

A post shared by @yllivu on Feb 1, 2018 at 9:49am PST

Last winter air pollution hit record highs, and residents were encouraged to stay indoors. This year is no better: the air quality in Pristina has been named the world’s worst, according to an app that measures the air quality at US embassies around the world. The cause? Europe’s oldest coal-fired power plant complex, built between 1965 and 1975. Located 15km from Pristina, it burns the dirty variant of lignite coal, of which Kosovo has the fifth largest reserve in the world. In December, Kosovo inked a deal with the US company ContourGlobal to build a new plant worth €1.3bn (£1.1bn), which is projected to decrease dust emissions by a factor of 25 and emit only a quarter of the current levels of carbon dioxide. But on 1 February, a day when the air quality indicators registered worse levels than the Chinese megacities of Shanghai and Hangzhou, hundreds of mask-clad residents took to the streets to protest.

What’s everyone talking about?

Kosovo’s official flag was unveiled 10 years ago: a blue standard bearing Kosovo’s golden outline and crowned with white stars, it is reminiscent of the EU flag. But many Albanians prefer the national flag of Albania – blood red with a black double-headed eagle. This flag was flown at an enormous roundabout opposite Hotel Victory, which features a large replica of the Statue of Liberty, and the flag’s presence has engendered heated debate, part of a larger national discussion about identity in the young country.

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Prishtina Insight, launched just after Kosovo became independent, offers news, features and opinions about life in Europe’s youngest capital. Since 2010, Kosovo 2.0 publishes in-depth profiles features in English, Albanian and Serbian.

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