Building the Green Infrastructure of Belgrade: The Importance of Community Greening

Due to its important role in increasing human well-being and providing space for ecosystem services, green infrastructure has gradually become an integral part of urban development strategies. Focusing on the activities of community greening, the article considers this approach toward the application of urban green infrastructure as a part of a broader strategy related to the resilience of cities. The neighborhood/district level will be emphasized and the analysis will be conducted in two areas of the Serbian capital Belgrade-Block 45 in New Belgrade and the Savamala neighborhood in the historical city core. Representing two different epochs of Belgrade's development, they are characterized by different typologies, while the characteristics of community greening also differ in several aspects, including purpose, model of organization, and involved stakeholders/participants. The green space of the identified typical morphological units has been cultivated and maintained in two different ways-institutional (provided by the public company) and non-institutional (community greening)-and their impact on the quality of the local GI will be compared. The analysis intends to provide data on the level of biodiversity, multi-functionality, and maintenance of green spaces which will show the effect of both applied approaches. Particular attention will be given to the tensions and challenges of the local context: the adoption of plans and regulations that are in accordance with contemporary trends, as well as the drawbacks in their implementation. Furthermore, the possibilities of community greening will be elaborated, as future steps for achieving the formal green infrastructure (hereinafter GI) standards at the neighborhood/district scale

Promotion of the cultural heritage of Mediterranean city in the scope of upgrading cultural tourism

World and especially European trends of tourist economy are mainly focused on development of diversity in cultural tourism. Cultural tourism is a complex of numerous activities that enables not only the affirmation of cultural-historic motives, but also provides important resources for renewal of cultural-historic monuments, tangible and intangible heritage and resources. Today, there is no serious and ambitious country that does not prefer development of tourism in its development strategies as a planetary phenomenon and development sector. This specially refers to cultural tourism, as a competitive segment, based on local authenticity, unique areas, urban entities and ambiance, different historic layers and monuments, local tradition, myths and customs, affirmative mentality of population, geographic and ecological resources, in brief - complex and original identity of its area and its population. Cultural tourism in Montenegro has a modest tradition and only recently through valuable but sporadic initiatives and encouragements from Europe, attempts to valorize its own potentials, making them competitive through creative projects and programs. It is most certainly that the Montenegrin coast is a deeply settled part of complex Mediterranean cultural sphere that possesses certain characteristics which marks it as a unique cultural space in which different historical, geographic, confessional and other influences from surroundings intersect, predefining it for development of cultural tourism. This paper represents an effort to create a professional study report, although limited to single destination - city of Budva that treats cultural tourism in correlation with evaluation of renewal and use of cultural-historic and built heritage. From the mentioned reasons and within described context, this paper tends to be a small, but precisely created contribution to the future actions of creating complex tourist offer at Montenegrin coast, especially in Budva as its 'capital', as it is often emphasized with reasonable expectations in public.

An Environmental Critique: Impact of Socialist Ideology on the Ecological and Cultural Sensitivity of Belgrade's Large-Scale Residential Settlements

This paper advocates the stance that sustainable approaches in architecture, although usually associated to contemporary practice, have a very complex relationship with the history of architecture and urbanism. By adopting an interpretative framework, the paper highlights the environmental aspects of the architectural practice of Belgrade's large-scale residential settlements created under the cultural influences of socialist ideology. The socialist system enabled systematic implementation of the principles of the Congres International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) on a large urban scale, in contrast to capitalist countries where these principles were applied on a smaller scale. The paper starts with the premise that these cultural influences, together with the integration of the principles of modernism, caused the rejection and the loss of traditional and ambience values in architecture. Research has shown that these values play a very important role in meeting the needs of ecological and cultural sensitivity in architecture. In its final consequences, the results of research have revealed that, although widely criticized for its break with tradition and the loss of ambience values, residential architecture in Belgrade during the socialist era included significant aspirations of the architectural practice directed at the improvement of aspects of sustainability, and especially aspects of ecological and cultural sensitivity

Mortgage market in the Republic of Serbia: present situation and prospects

This paper discusses the development of mortgage loans market in the Republic of Serbia through development of the instruments for provision of legal security of investments - both to creditors and to debtors. It explains the process of establishment of Real Estate Cadastre as a prerequisite for registration of real estate mortgages. Creation of the Central Mortgage Register is an additional service that provides transparency of the procedures and mortgage market development. The entire procedure has been illustrated by the statistical data on the increase of the number of registered mortgages, starting from 1998 through the end of 2011. The impact of the global economic crisis on the moderate decrease of the number of new mortgages in the Republic of Serbia is quite evident

Orthodox Christianity Square, open public space [Exhibition: The 21st Salon of architecture Novi Sad]

The Square of Orthodoxy (Trg Pravoslavlja) is situated in the center of Derventa in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the past, before the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there was a park with a bistro and terrace. It was a meeting place, to enjoy the beautiful park ensemble. After the war, the park was treated as a town square and the site has undergone a number of changes: on the west side, the pedestrian street was made; on the top of the location, the monument was built on the top location and in the central part of the square, the Serbian Orthodox Church. The basic idea of planning the Square of Orthodoxy in Derventa is guided by the collective memory of the place in terms of reminiscences of past. The main reference for the design of the Square is in the fresco painting in the Orthodox Church and cubism landscape design. The design process took into account the low budget of the project. The project respected an urban context, urban fabric and all client requirements. The problem of large deleveling of the Square (more than 7m) is solved by the cascading. The composition of greenery supports the existing one and particularly plane trees (genius loci). Landscape design and lighting design support and highlight the bold sense of the space, the horizontal lines of the Square and the vertical lines of the church. Since 2015, citizens of Derventa are using Square mostly for everyday children’s play, socializing and a place for an active break. Several large public events have been held there so far.Collaborator: Jefimija Sebic - Associate designer, Sinisa Maric - Associate designer, Vladan Stevovic - 3D visualization

The Textuality of the Modernist Rural Landscape: Belgrade Agricultural Combine (PKB) as a Driver of the Urban Development of Third Belgrade

This paper considers the landscape as both a material and an ideological representation and starts from the assumption that spatial patterns arise as a result of the ideological imperative of the process that forms the landscape. The research takes on a historical-interpretative approach in the domain of architectural and urban studies, enabling in-depth qualitative exploration of the textuality and layering of the modernist rural landscape through a case study of the PKB Agricultural Combine as a driver of the urban development of Third Belgrade, the spatial framework of the left riverbank of the Danube in the administrative area of Belgrade. The research was conducted by chronologically interpreting primary sources, notably planning documents of different levels and scope, as well as studies, programs and development models for the urbanization of this territory. The research aims to decode the impact of socialist agrarian policy on the land-use in the wider metropolitan area of Belgrade, as well as the impact of the agricultural combine as a spatial, social, economic, environmental and political entity on the urban development process at different spatial levels. The research has identified four periods in the development of Third Belgrade: (1) Production of the Modernist Rural Landscape, (2) Establishment of the Self-Management Planning Framework, (3) Humanization of Environment, and (4) Post-socialist Transition and the Collapse of the Agricultural Combine. The paper demonstrates not only that environmental transformation cannot be separated from social transformation but also that they are in constant interaction and that their synergy has had a profound impact on the development of the PKB Agricultural Combine system in socialist conditions. The textuality of the modernist rural landscape confirms that an object-oriented approach is not enough to explore and interpret the landscape, but rather, we should look at the way it is socially produced through decoding the planning, institutional and policy frameworks determining the urban development of a territory

Contemporary architectural and urban design practice in Belgrade and Serbia through the perspective of urban morphology approach

By analysing the contemporary architectural and urban design practice in Belgrade and Serbia the challenges in urban development can be identified and explained through the perspective of an urban morphology approach. The majority of these challenges are as a result of an inadequate relationship between different scales of professional interventions in built environment, as well as, an ineffective relationship between theory and practice. It should be noted that due to these challenges in urban development, the role of architects and professionals involved in urban designing and planning has been questioned. The findings indicate an emerging belief for the need for improved dialogue between professionals in relation to urban development in Serbia, as well as, interaction with wider professional networks. The general issues have already been expanded upon through the discourse of urban morphology and can result in the drafting of guidelines for further improvement of designing and planning practice in Belgrade and Serbia. The principal issues the urban morphology network in Serbia would be faced with are: consolidating up-to-date research and contributions; translating the key references and Glossary present within the Urban Morphology discourse; integrating theoretical and applied knowledge - developing a common morphological language – as a conceptual framework applicable to various typologies and urban tissues; providing a better understanding of the complex phenomenon of urban form; and introducing the morphological dimension to plans, that is, the concept of form into planning.22nd International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF) International Conference, held 22-26 Sept 2015 in Rome, Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Architectur