In a city short of funds where urban air pollution was a growing concern something creative needed to be done to change the city for the better.

Elected in 2015 mayor Erion Veliaj has transformed the city, harnessing the power of its children, “a small revolutionary in every family” to help him. In his first year Veliaj took 40,000 sq m of land from illegal developments, making way for 31 new playgrounds. He instigated repeated traffic closures on the main Skanderbeg Square to allow children to play safely, now permanently car free the square sits at the centre of a pedestrian zone that has expanded monthly.

The Mayor of Tirana will talk about his visions for the city and the difficulties of introducing change and talk with Amica Dall, one of the directors of Assemble, a democratically run architecture, art and design practice.

Erion Veliaj (@erionveliaj) is an Albanian politician, who is currently serving as Mayor of Tirana.

Amica Dall (@Assemblestudio) is one of the directors of Assemble, a democratically run architecture, art and design practice.

Ricky Burdett (@BURDETTR ) is Professor of Urban Studies at LSE and Director of the Urban Age and LSE Cities.

LSE Cities (@LSECities) studies how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focusing on how the design of cities impacts on society, culture and the environment. Through research, conferences, teaching and projects, the centre aims to shape new thinking and practice on how to make cities fairer and more sustainable for the next generation of urban dwellers, who will make up some 70 per cent of the global population by 2050.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEErionVeliaj

This event forms part of the “Shape the World” series, held in the run up to the LSE Festival, a week-long series of events taking place from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 March 2020, free to attend and open to all, exploring how social sciences can make the world a better place. The full programme will be available online from January 2020.