Prishtina in Photos, Part 2: Scenes of Change

Buildings near City Centre

One thing about Prishtina: if you're walking around at the right moment, it can sound like the entire city is under construction. Indeed, each morning in Dardania, I wake up to see the complex outside my window slowly taking shape. In other neighbourhoods here, such as Dragodan, legions of apartment buildings are being built. Writing of Dardania, Norman notes that the recent waves of construction have led to significant changes in relationships, as residents leave their neighbourhoods for newer, perhaps cheaper, properties. These changes, of construction and deconstruction, have become common place in Prishtina's political discourse, where the need for urban planning and anti-corruption activities have become one-in-the-same. Perhaps, the skeletal commercial building and cave-like, half-complete apartment block are symptoms of unrestrained privatisation. Or, perhaps they represent adaptations?

The series of photographs below are some of the changes seen (and often heard) in Prishtina, and, as such, they are only a part of the overall picture. As such, I will be posting more photos soon.

Rows of apartment buildings near Dragodan.

Recently-built statue of Ibrahim Rugova, former president of the self-declared Republic of Kosovo.

Under-construction building off the Centre.

The street of the "small cafes" (Kafija te Vogel). Scenes of gentrification?

Commercial buildings across from Dardania.

OSCE building, near Prishtitna City Centre.

View from Dragodan, with Prishtina City Centre in the background.