Urban studies were marginalized when ethnology emerged as an official science in Albania after the Second World War, contrary to rural studies that corresponded better to the ideological valorisation of the “popular” and the “authentic”. Several surveys, however, were conducted in urban areas and three important texts concerning the cities of Tirana, Elbasan and Korça are analyzed here. Despite their limitations, largely due to the orientation given to ethnology by institutions, those works have gained historical value and still offer stimulating prospects for the current development of urban studies.