Résumé
Land management policies for coastal areas are confronted with increased pressures of land development and urbanisation. Across the northern Mediterranean countries, governments have adopted policies and implemented incentive and regulatory instruments to manage this phenomenon. For transition countries, the application of these instruments is less effective due to the weakness of the institutional framework. The Albanian coastal area is suffering for the last ten years from an anarchic urbanisation of its former agricultural land. This issue is analysed though the study of the land market trends in the 1992-2005 period. Data on market transactions and the characteristics of sold land offer information on the land uses and insights on the future development of the area. Our study is based on a field research in the region Durrës-Kavaja (central area of the country), which constitutes an area heavily concerned by this phenomenon. We identified the main characteristics of the land market and their effects on urbanisation and land development. The conflict between agriculture and urbanisation appears to be won by the latter, leading to the establishment of new urban dwelling areas. The existing policies and instruments can neither prevent urbanisation nor influence its type. The study concludes on the necessity to define a stronger development policy, based upon incentive and regulatory instruments