The objective of this research is to describe the overall situation - the problems, needs, possibilities and opportunities - in a small regional town in northern Albania - the city of Fushë Arrëz - as a city in which can be identified typical issues of many villages and communities in the country. An additional goal beyond the inventory of the region's problems is the recognition of the capabilities and attitudes of residents and the interest of some institutions, investment groups and of individual investors that any possible initiatives of theirs are associated with the possible future of the city.
The city was created in the 1950 and took its name from the village Fushë Arrëz, at a time when industrial activity and processing of timber and copper mining and processing was developed. Around these economic activities the development of the city was organized.
The Fushe Arrez is now a degraded city, mainly due to the high unemployment rate escalated in recent decades. It is evident that the complete absence of state facilities, private investment and development initiatives of all kinds is reflected in society, economy and the very image of the city.
It is obvious that without a coordinated effort and the development fund the new city that was built under the communist regime until the 1990's, will not be able to regain its own character.
The Fushe Arrez is a certainly small town with few inhabitants, which, however, have the conditions and characteristics that would enable it to develop into a productive city, with interesting social life and important to the economy of the wider region.