TEDxThessaloniki
Edi Rama: Take back your city with paint
Filmed:
Readability: 3.8
641,447 views
Make a city beautiful, curb corruption. Edi Rama took this deceptively simple path as mayor of Tirana, Albania, where he instilled pride in his citizens by transforming public spaces with colorful designs.
Edi Rama - Politician
From 2000 to 2011 Edi Rama was the mayor of Tirana, where he implemented a series of reforms to take back the city for the people. Full bio
From 2000 to 2011 Edi Rama was the mayor of Tirana, where he implemented a series of reforms to take back the city for the people. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
In my previous life, I was an artist.
0
1007
3487
00:20
I still paint. I love art.
1
4494
2473
00:22
I love the joy that color can give to our lives
2
6967
5599
00:28
and to our communities,
3
12566
2648
00:31
and I try to bring something of the artist in me
4
15214
5279
00:36
in my politics,
5
20493
2121
00:38
and I see
6
22614
3928
00:42
part of my job today, the reason for being here,
7
26542
5184
00:47
not just to campaign for my party,
8
31726
4927
00:52
but for politics, and the role it can play
9
36653
4705
00:57
for the better in our lives.
10
41358
3816
01:01
For 11 years, I was mayor of Tirana, our capital.
11
45174
5872
01:06
We faced many challenges.
12
51046
2692
01:09
Art was part of the answer,
13
53738
2484
01:12
and my name, in the very beginning,
14
56222
2618
01:14
was linked with two things:
15
58840
2415
01:17
demolition of illegal constructions
16
61255
4093
01:21
in order to get public space back,
17
65348
4080
01:25
and use of colors in order to revive the hope
18
69428
3678
01:29
that had been lost in my city.
19
73106
3319
01:32
But this use of colors was not just an artistic act.
20
76425
5861
01:38
Rather, it was a form of political action
21
82286
4116
01:42
in a context when the city budget I had available
22
86402
5102
01:47
after being elected amounted to zero comma something.
23
91504
6707
01:54
When we painted the first building,
24
98211
2991
01:57
by splashing a radiant orange on the somber gray
25
101202
4552
02:01
of a facade,
26
105754
2264
02:03
something unimaginable happened.
27
108018
4224
02:08
There was a traffic jam
28
112242
2070
02:10
and a crowd of people gathered
29
114312
3005
02:13
as if it were the location of some spectacular accident,
30
117317
4918
02:18
or the sudden sighting of a visiting pop star.
31
122235
4719
02:22
The French E.U. official in charge of the funding
32
126954
4802
02:27
rushed to block the painting.
33
131756
3094
02:30
He screeched that he would block the financing.
34
134850
4746
02:35
"But why?" I asked him.
35
139596
3630
02:39
"Because the colors you have ordered
36
143226
2792
02:41
do not meet European standards," he replied.
37
146018
4712
02:46
"Well," I told him,
38
150730
2929
02:49
"the surroundings do not meet European standards,
39
153659
3188
02:52
even though this is not what we want,
40
156847
5295
02:58
but we will choose the colors ourselves,
41
162142
3171
03:01
because this is exactly what we want.
42
165313
3670
03:04
And if you do not let us continue with our work,
43
168983
3883
03:08
I will hold a press conference here,
44
172866
2674
03:11
right now, right in this road,
45
175540
3276
03:14
and we will tell people that you look to me
46
178816
3250
03:17
just like the censors of the socialist realism era."
47
182066
5874
03:23
Then he was kind of troubled,
48
187940
2655
03:26
and asked me for a compromise.
49
190595
2592
03:29
But I told him no, I'm sorry,
50
193187
2320
03:31
compromise in colors is gray,
51
195507
4502
03:35
and we have enough gray to last us a lifetime.
52
200009
5088
03:40
(Applause)
53
205097
1217
03:42
So it's time for change.
54
206314
5119
03:47
The rehabilitation of public spaces
55
211433
2170
03:49
revived the feeling of belonging
56
213603
2734
03:52
to a city that people lost.
57
216337
4869
03:57
The pride of people about their own place of living,
58
221206
6440
04:03
and there were feelings that had been buried
59
227646
3419
04:06
deep for years under the fury of the illegal,
60
231065
4655
04:11
barbaric constructions that sprang up in the public space.
61
235720
5474
04:17
And when colors came out everywhere,
62
241194
3044
04:20
a mood of change started transforming the spirit of people.
63
244238
4488
04:24
Big noise raised up: "What is this? What is happening?
64
248726
2947
04:27
What are colors doing to us?"
65
251673
1961
04:29
And we made a poll,
66
253634
1055
04:30
the most fascinating poll I've seen in my life.
67
254689
2402
04:32
We asked people, "Do you want this action,
68
257091
7257
04:40
and to have buildings painted like that?"
69
264348
4490
04:44
And then the second question was,
70
268838
2371
04:47
"Do you want it to stop or do you want it to continue?"
71
271209
3004
04:50
To the first question,
72
274213
1684
04:51
63 percent of people said yes, we like it.
73
275897
3906
04:55
Thirty-seven said no, we don't like it.
74
279803
2360
04:58
But to the second question, half of them that didn't like it,
75
282163
3672
05:01
they wanted it to continue. (Laughter)
76
285835
3079
05:04
So we noticed change.
77
288914
3127
05:07
People started to drop less litter in the streets, for example,
78
292041
4395
05:12
started to pay taxes,
79
296436
2630
05:14
started to feel something they had forgotten,
80
299066
4449
05:19
and beauty was acting as a guardsman
81
303515
5064
05:24
where municipal police, or the state itself, were missing.
82
308579
6542
05:31
One day I remember walking along a street
83
315121
3701
05:34
that had just been colored,
84
318822
2596
05:37
and where we were in the process of planting trees,
85
321418
3779
05:41
when I saw a shopkeeper and his wife
86
325197
3245
05:44
putting a glass facade to their shop.
87
328442
3967
05:48
They had thrown the old shutter
88
332409
2297
05:50
in the garbage collection place.
89
334706
2992
05:53
"Why did you throw away the shutters?" I asked him.
90
337698
3560
05:57
"Well, because the street is safer now," they answered.
91
341258
5232
06:02
"Safer? Why? They have posted more policemen here?"
92
346490
5568
06:07
"Come on, man! What policemen?
93
352058
2824
06:10
You can see it for yourself. There are colors,
94
354882
3092
06:13
streetlights, new pavement with no potholes,
95
357974
5820
06:19
trees. So it's beautiful; it's safe."
96
363794
4792
06:24
And indeed, it was beauty that was giving people
97
368586
3944
06:28
this feeling of being protected.
98
372530
4427
06:32
And this was not a misplaced feeling.
99
376957
3502
06:36
Crime did fall.
100
380459
4757
06:41
The freedom that was won in 1990
101
385216
3346
06:44
brought about a state of anarchy in the city,
102
388562
4137
06:48
while the barbarism of the '90s
103
392699
2911
06:51
brought about a loss of hope for the city.
104
395610
3482
06:54
The paint on the walls did not feed children,
105
399092
4270
06:59
nor did it tend the sick or educate the ignorant,
106
403362
4064
07:03
but it gave hope and light,
107
407426
3441
07:06
and helped to make people see
108
410867
2440
07:09
there could be a different way of doing things,
109
413307
3103
07:12
a different spirit, a different feel to our lives,
110
416410
3911
07:16
and that if we brought the same energy and hope
111
420321
6219
07:22
to our politics, we could build a better life
112
426540
4288
07:26
for each other and for our country.
113
430828
5195
07:31
We removed 123,000 tons of concrete
114
436023
6850
07:38
only from the riverbanks.
115
442873
2607
07:41
We demolished more than 5,000 illegal buildings
116
445480
5150
07:46
all over the city,
117
450630
2982
07:49
up to eight stories high, the tallest of them.
118
453612
4469
07:53
We planted 55,000 trees and bushes in the streets.
119
458081
6529
08:00
We established a green tax,
120
464610
3083
08:03
and then everybody accepted it
121
467693
4030
08:07
and all businessmen paid it regularly.
122
471723
4994
08:12
By means of open competitions,
123
476717
2387
08:15
we managed to recruit in our administration
124
479104
2993
08:17
many young people,
125
482097
1995
08:19
and we thus managed to build
126
484092
1862
08:21
a de-politicized public institution
127
485954
3271
08:25
where men and women were equally represented.
128
489225
4520
08:29
International organizations
129
493745
2542
08:32
have invested a lot in Albania during these 20 years,
130
496287
3378
08:35
not all of it well spent.
131
499665
3232
08:38
When I told the World Bank directors
132
502897
3128
08:41
that I wanted them to finance a project to build
133
506025
4913
08:46
a model reception hall for citizens
134
510938
2895
08:49
precisely in order to fight endemic daily corruption,
135
513833
4160
08:53
they did not understand me.
136
517993
2250
08:56
But people were waiting in long queues
137
520243
3278
08:59
under sun and under rain
138
523521
2923
09:02
in order to get a certificate or just a simple answer
139
526444
4225
09:06
from two tiny windows of two metal kiosks.
140
530669
7438
09:14
They were paying in order to skip the queue,
141
538107
4184
09:18
the long queue.
142
542291
2356
09:20
The reply to their requests was met
143
544647
3963
09:24
by a voice coming from this dark hole,
144
548610
4701
09:29
and, on the other hand,
145
553311
4242
09:33
a mysterious hand coming out to take their documents
146
557553
5442
09:38
while searching through old documents for the bribe.
147
562995
5808
09:44
We could change the invisible clerks within the kiosks,
148
568803
4307
09:49
every week, but we could not change this corrupt practice.
149
573110
5639
09:54
"I'm convinced," I told a German official
150
578749
3774
09:58
with the World Bank,
151
582523
2776
10:01
"that it would be impossible for them to be bribed
152
585299
3842
10:05
if they worked in Germany,
153
589141
2454
10:07
in a German administration,
154
591595
1951
10:09
just as I am convinced that if you put German officials
155
593546
4406
10:13
from the German administration in those holes,
156
597952
3223
10:17
they would be bribed just the same."
157
601175
4148
10:21
(Applause)
158
605323
6704
10:27
It's not about genes.
159
612027
1832
10:29
It's not about some being with a high conscience
160
613859
5734
10:35
and some others having not a conscience.
161
619593
2442
10:37
It's about system, it's about organization.
162
622035
2772
10:40
It's also about environment and respect.
163
624807
3260
10:43
We removed the kiosks.
164
628067
2883
10:46
We built the bright new reception hall
165
630950
3696
10:50
that made people, Tirana citizens,
166
634646
3571
10:54
think they had traveled abroad when they entered
167
638217
3686
10:57
to make their requests.
168
641903
2424
11:00
We created an online system of control
169
644327
3444
11:03
and so speeded up all the processes.
170
647771
3916
11:07
We put the citizen first, and not the clerks.
171
651687
4656
11:12
The corruption in the state administration
172
656343
4204
11:16
of countries like Albania --
173
660547
2700
11:19
it's not up to me to say also like Greece --
174
663247
4176
11:23
can be fought only by modernization.
175
667423
5380
11:28
Reinventing the government by reinventing politics itself
176
672803
4752
11:33
is the answer, and not reinventing people
177
677555
3519
11:36
based on a ready-made formula
178
681074
2648
11:39
that the developed world often tries in vain to impose
179
683722
4256
11:43
to people like us.
180
687978
2106
11:45
(Applause)
181
690084
2707
11:48
Things have come to this point
182
692791
1984
11:50
because politicians in general,
183
694775
2492
11:53
but especially in our countries, let's face it,
184
697267
2896
11:56
think people are stupid.
185
700163
2463
11:58
They take it for granted that, come what may,
186
702626
3544
12:02
people have to follow them,
187
706170
2212
12:04
while politics, more and more, fails to offer answers
188
708382
4094
12:08
for their public concerns
189
712476
4023
12:12
or the exigencies of the common people.
190
716499
4671
12:17
Politics has come to resemble
191
721170
2802
12:19
a cynical team game played by politicians,
192
723972
3486
12:23
while the public has been pushed aside
193
727458
3929
12:27
as if sitting on the seats of a stadium
194
731387
3887
12:31
in which passion for politics
195
735274
1850
12:33
is gradually making room for blindness and desperation.
196
737124
5609
12:38
Seen from those stairs, all politicians today
197
742733
4894
12:43
seem the same,
198
747627
1963
12:45
and politics has come to resemble
199
749590
4637
12:50
a sport that inspires more aggressiveness
200
754227
4601
12:54
and pessimism than social cohesion
201
758828
3312
12:58
and the desire for civic protaganism.
202
762140
4273
13:02
Barack Obama won
203
766413
2026
13:04
— (Applause) —
204
768439
6277
13:10
because he mobilized people as never before
205
774716
3563
13:14
through the use of social networks.
206
778279
2533
13:16
He did not know each and every one of them,
207
780812
3113
13:19
but with an admirable ingenuity,
208
783925
3870
13:23
he managed to transform them into activists
209
787795
3380
13:27
by giving them all the possibility to hold in their hands
210
791175
4129
13:31
the arguments and the instruments that each would need
211
795304
3594
13:34
to campaign in his name by making his own campaign.
212
798898
4793
13:39
I tweet. I love it.
213
803691
2055
13:41
I love it because it lets me get the message out,
214
805746
5369
13:47
but it also lets people get their messages to me.
215
811115
4267
13:51
This is politics, not from top down,
216
815382
2992
13:54
but from the bottom up, and sideways,
217
818374
3224
13:57
and allowing everybody's voice to be heard
218
821598
2992
14:00
is exactly what we need.
219
824590
1960
14:02
Politics is not just about leaders.
220
826550
2054
14:04
It's not just about politicians and laws.
221
828604
2761
14:07
It is about how people think,
222
831365
1968
14:09
how they view the world around them,
223
833333
2335
14:11
how they use their time and their energy.
224
835668
2526
14:14
When people say all politicians are the same,
225
838194
2516
14:16
ask yourself if Obama was the same as Bush,
226
840710
3280
14:19
if François Hollande is the same as Sarkozy.
227
843990
3575
14:23
They are not. They are human beings with different views
228
847565
4704
14:28
and different visions for the world.
229
852269
2582
14:30
When people say nothing can change,
230
854851
2898
14:33
just stop and think what the world was like
231
857749
4064
14:37
10, 20, 50, 100 years ago.
232
861813
4632
14:42
Our world is defined by the pace of change.
233
866445
3116
14:45
We can all change the world.
234
869561
2804
14:48
I gave you a very small example
235
872365
2876
14:51
of how one thing, the use of color,
236
875241
3501
14:54
can make change happen.
237
878742
2511
14:57
I want to make more change
238
881253
1363
14:58
as Prime Minister of my country,
239
882616
2788
15:01
but every single one of you can make change happen
240
885404
4322
15:05
if you want to.
241
889726
1593
15:07
President Roosevelt, he said,
242
891319
3125
15:10
"Believe you can, and you are halfway there."
243
894444
3673
15:14
Efharisto and kalinihta.
244
898117
3067
15:17
(Applause)
245
901184
19703
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Edi Rama - PoliticianFrom 2000 to 2011 Edi Rama was the mayor of Tirana, where he implemented a series of reforms to take back the city for the people.
Why you should listen
Edi Rama has been in politics since the start of the 21st century, but before that he was a painter. It was this deep affinity for light and color that informed Rama's time as mayor of Tirana, when he literally painted the town ... every color. Rama is best known for the removal of government kiosks all over the city, thus cutting down on endemic bribery, and for the establishment of a modern new reception hall for citizens with paperwork requests. Rama's administration also demolished thousands of illegal buildings, removed hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete from riverbanks, and planted thousands of trees and bushes all over the city. Rama continues to serve as a leader of the Socialist Party of Albania.
Edi Rama | Speaker | TED.com