Re-Conceptualization of the Idea of Neighborhood in Post-Socialist Belgrade

Understanding the concept of collective form is of particular interest for re-conceptualization of the idea of neighborhood in post-socialist Belgrade. After the experiences of the socialist community, Belgrade is facing the issue of social atomization and numerous manifestations of the culture of distrust. These conditions in which the duties towards the others are not recognized for the sake of one’s own sustain Thomas Hobbes defines as an issue of the wrong reason. In the region of Serbia the problem of wrong reason has its own history. Its fragments are found in the modern urbanization of the cities in Serbia, at the neighborhood level – shaped by the tension between the power directives and the desire of the ordinary people. According to the principle of reciprocity, based on the criteria of functional orientation, attractiveness and connectivity of group form elements, considering the presence of the culture of distrust, the intention of this article is to initiate discussion on proposed terminology and to reveal the key points for transformation of the dwelling community concept into neihgborhood concept

The Institutional Structure of Land Use Planning for Urban Forest Protection in the Post-Socialist Transition Environment: Serbian Experiences

In recent decades, Serbia has been undergoing a period of post-socialist transition that has significantly altered the value system underlying spatial development due to alteration of ownership frameworks and land use rights. In consequence, issues have arisen of how to strike a balance between the various interests involved in the distribution of spatial resources and how to control the outcomes of public policies. Land use planning has been identified as an efficient instrument for implementing the public policy value framework. The objective of this paper is to identify the key points of land use planning in relation to urban forest management of significance for the maintenance of urban forests in the environment of post-socialist institutional transformation in Serbia. Seen as an institutional structure, the practice of land use planning in Serbia is the product of a stable interaction between the set of interrelated rules, procedures and organisational units that allows spatial development outcomes that take into account and safeguard land resources and, ultimately, urban forests. The research was carried out in relation to the concept of institutional transformation across three scales: macro / governance, meso / coordination and micro / agency: (a) components of the regulatory framework; (b) procedures for cooperation between stakeholders; and (c) specific activities of land use planning practice. As a result, the concept of Land use Planning for Urban Forest Protection (LUPUFP) in Serbia was established. It identifies components of institutional structure of importance for regulating system changes in the post-socialist transition environment and steering them towards the establishment of a value framework that allows the agenda of saving urban forests to be implemented

План суседства - Норме просторне и друштвене дистанцираности

Previous sociological and anthropological classifications of sociability forms place the neighbourhood among communities. Having in mind that in Serbian language for that kind of neighbourhood it is used the term vicinity (komšiluk), but not neighbourhood, this paper is studying finer nuances separating these two terms and testing the presumptions that the neighbourhood is the concept of distance which resists the homogenizing influence of the idea of the community. Other than definitions based on the determinants of topological proximity and those explaining the neighbourhood as the meeting point according to the manner of sharing near, common identity items, the neighbourhood is also described in terms of the open gathering or group form. This work researches that openness – the measure of fitting and the measure of dissociating of group form on the examples of Belgrade neighbourhoods. The aim of the reconsidering the neighbourhood concept is not the delineation of different theoretical approaches, but to introduce the varieties of use of this term in the field of urban planning and to expand the meaning of a term which has been marked with nostalgic return to the idea of community and romantization of sociability based on the solidarity, generosity and love for neighbour. The testing of the thesis that the neighbourhood is not a community understands the review of the togetherness basic principle. Andrew Mason considers that the concept of community falls into the ‘essentially disputable concepts’ wherefore the question is not about the confusion over the meaning which results from a different senses assigned by different persons to a particular term, but about the inconsistence which comes from the very nature of the term (Mason 2000: 18-20). The thesis that the neighbourhood is not a community takes into the consideration the disputation of the term community and examines the relation between these two terms whose natures evade the final determination. In other words, the neighbourhood is the place of constant revisions and corrections of the idea of community. Unlike the community on which applies the principle of entirety, the principle of openness is applying on the neighbourhood. This significant difference shows that the neighbourhood patterns are not the ways of organizing an ensemble (concept of a community of persons living together on a definite area) but a way to connect to an open gathering. In spatial term, these are not the ways of grouping or breaking the whole (collective form) but the possibilities of regrouping, measuring, inserting (joining) and separating (suspensions) – these are the ways of maintaining the gathering, namely the group forms open...Досадашње социолoшке и антрополошке класификације облика друштвености суседство сврставају у заједнице. Имајући у виду да се у српском говорном језику за такав облик суседства користи термин комшилук, а не суседство, овај рад је посвећен испитивању финијих нијанси које раздвајају ова два термина и провери претпоставке да је суседство концепт градскости који се одупире хомогенизујућем дејству идеје заједнице. Поред дефиниција заснованих на одредницама тополошке близине и оних које суседство објашњавају као место сусрета у смислу начина дељења блиских, заједничких тачака идентитета, појам суседства описује се и као отворени скуп или групна форма. Овај рад испитује ту отвореност – меру уклапања и меру издвајања групне форме на примерима суседства у Београду. Циљ разматрања концепција суседства није разграничење различитих теоријских приступа, већ да се варијетети употребе овог појма уведу у област урбанизма и прошире значење једног појма који је обележен носталгичним враћањем идеји заједништва и романтизирању друштвености заснованој на солидарности, племенитости и љубави за ближње. Провера тезе да суседство није заједница подразумева испитивање основног начела заједништва. Ендрју Масон (Andrew Mason) сматра да појам заједнице спада у „суштински спорне појмове” те да није реч о конфузији око значења која настаје услед различитог смисла који особе додељују одређеном појму, већ је реч о неслагању које извире из саме природе појма (Mason 2000: 18-20). Теза да суседство није заједница узима у обзир спорност самог појма заједница и испитује релацију између ова два појма чије природе измичу коначном одређењу. Другим речима, суседство је место сталног ревидирања и коректуре идеје заједништва..

Pridevi i pridevske zamenice sa semantičkog i morfološkog aspekta

Predmet rada jeste analiza odnosa između imeničke i pridevske promene prideva i pridevskih zamenica sa aspekta morfologije i semantike sa ciljem da se utvrdi koliko i gde danas prepoznajemo oblike imeničke promene. Rad obuhvata pregled dosadašnjih istraživanja, kao i analizu pomenutih oblika prideva i pridevskih zamenica iz dela tri grupe pisaca različitih razdoblja srpskog književnog jezika. Prvu grupu pisaca čine autori koji su stvarali i živeli krajem XIX i u prvoj polovini XX veka. U okviru druge grupe obuhvaćena su dela pisaca druge polovine XX, a treću grupu čine savremeni autori. Osim književnoumetničkog stila, radom su obuhvaćeni primeri prideva i pridevskih zamenica iz dnevne štampe da bi se uporedilo stanje dva funkcionalna stila. Dvojaki oblici prideva, uslovljeni kategorijom vida kojem pripadaju, predstavljaju osobinu po kojoj su pridevi jedinstveni u grupi promenljivih vrsta reči. S obzirom na to da je oblik neodređenog pridevskog vida u savremenoj upotrebi skoro sasvim iščezao, primenom deskriptivnog i analitičkog metoda utvrđena je preciznija slika o morfološkim pomeranjima koja obuhvataju gotovo čitav jedan vek. Analizom je utvrđeno u kojoj meri se čuva upotreba dvojakih oblika prideva i pridevskih zamenica. Održavanje oblika pridevske i imeničke deklinacije u sistemu savremenog srpskog jezika uslovljeno je sintaksičkim službama u kojima se nalaze pridevi i pridevske zamenice, kao i frazeološkim i leksikalizovanim izrazima u čijem su sastavu. Narušavanje sistema pravilne upotrebe prideva i pridevskih zamenica postignuto je upotrebom oblika sa nastavcima imeničke deklinacije kao stilski markiranog sredstva u jeziku nekih pisaca. Uočeno je da su oblici imeničke deklinacije genitiva, dativa i lokativa jednine muškog i srednjeg roda prideva i pridevskih zamenica dominantni u delima prve grupe pisaca, da su prisutni u delima druge grupe pisaca, dok kod savremenih autora nisu potvrđeni. Na osnovu ekscerpiranih i analiziranih primera možemo zaključiti da je kategorija pridevskog vida u savremenom srpskom jeziku semantički neutralisana. Oblici obe deklinacije prideva mogu se uočiti u nominativu jednine muškog i srednjeg roda, dok je u zavisnim padežima savremenog srpskog jezika prevladala upotreba pridevske deklinacije. Upotreba oblika imeničke deklinacije prideva i pridevskih zamenica kod nekih autora je stilski markirana ili se javlja u okviru leksikalizovanih i frazeoloških izraza.The subject of this paper is the analysis of the relationship between the nominal and the adjectival changes and adjectival pronouns in terms of morphology and semantics, with the aim of determining to which extent and where we can recognize the forms of nominal changes today. The paper includes a review of previous research and also the analysis of these forms of adjectives and adjectival pronouns from the literary pieces of three groups of Serbian writers from different periods. The first group of writers consists of the authors who created and lived at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The second group includes the work of writers fro the second half of 20th century, and the third group consists of contemporary authors. In addition to this literary artistic style, this paper includes the examples of adjectives and adjectival pronouns from the daily press, in order to compare the states of the two functional styles. Those dual forms of adjectives, conditioned by category of adjectival form to which they belong, present a distinctive characteristic of the adjectives’ uniqueness in a group of variable parts of speech. Given the fact that the form of the indefinite adjectival form has almost completely vanished from the contemporary usage, by implementing descriptive and analytical methods, the accurate picture of the morphological shifts was determined, which span almost a whole century. The analysis shows the extent to which keeps the use of dual forms of adjectives and adjectival pronouns adjectives are preserved. The constancy of the adjectival form and the noun declension in the system of modern Serbian language is conditioned by the syntactic services of the adjectives and adjectival pronouns, as it is also the case with phraseological and lexicalized expressions they are a part of. The violation of the system of the proper use of adjectives and adjectival pronouns has been achieved by using a form of the noun declensions extensions as a stylish branded tool in the language of some writers. It has been noted that the forms of noun declension of the cases genitive, dative and locative in singular masculine and neuter gender adjectives and adjectival pronouns were dominant in the works of the first group of writers, present in the works of other groups of writers, while their use in the works of the contemporary authors has not been confirmed. Based excerpted and analyzed examples it can be concluded that the category of adjectival form, in contemporary Serbian language, has been semantically neutralized. Both forms of adjectival declension can be observed in the nominative case of the singular masculine and neuter gender, while the use of adjectival declension prevailed in the contemporary Serbian language dependent cases. The use of the noun declensions of adjectives and adjectival pronouns is marked in some of the authors’ styles or occurs in the context of lexical and phraseological expressions

Neighbourhoud plan-the norms of spatial and social distance

Досадашње социолoшке и антрополошке класификације облика друштвености суседство сврставају у заједнице. Имајући у виду да се у српском говорном језику за такав облик суседства користи термин комшилук, а не суседство, овај рад је посвећен испитивању финијих нијанси које раздвајају ова два термина и провери претпоставке да је суседство концепт градскости који се одупире хомогенизујућем дејству идеје заједнице. Поред дефиниција заснованих на одредницама тополошке близине и оних које суседство објашњавају као место сусрета у смислу начина дељења блиских, заједничких тачака идентитета, појам суседства описује се и као отворени скуп или групна форма. Овај рад испитује ту отвореност – меру уклапања и меру издвајања групне форме на примерима суседства у Београду. Циљ разматрања концепција суседства није разграничење различитих теоријских приступа, већ да се варијетети употребе овог појма уведу у област урбанизма и прошире значење једног појма који је обележен носталгичним враћањем идеји заједништва и романтизирању друштвености заснованој на солидарности, племенитости и љубави за ближње. Провера тезе да суседство није заједница подразумева испитивање основног начела заједништва. Ендрју Масон (Andrew Mason) сматра да појам заједнице спада у „суштински спорне појмове” те да није реч о конфузији око значења која настаје услед различитог смисла који особе додељују одређеном појму, већ је реч о неслагању које извире из саме природе појма (Mason 2000: 18-20). Теза да суседство није заједница узима у обзир спорност самог појма заједница и испитује релацију између ова два појма чије природе измичу коначном одређењу. Другим речима, суседство је место сталног ревидирања и коректуре идеје заједништва...Previous sociological and anthropological classifications of sociability forms place the neighbourhood among communities. Having in mind that in Serbian language for that kind of neighbourhood it is used the term vicinity (komšiluk), but not neighbourhood, this paper is studying finer nuances separating these two terms and testing the presumptions that the neighbourhood is the concept of distance which resists the homogenizing influence of the idea of the community. Other than definitions based on the determinants of topological proximity and those explaining the neighbourhood as the meeting point according to the manner of sharing near, common identity items, the neighbourhood is also described in terms of the open gathering or group form. This work researches that openness – the measure of fitting and the measure of dissociating of group form on the examples of Belgrade neighbourhoods. The aim of the reconsidering the neighbourhood concept is not the delineation of different theoretical approaches, but to introduce the varieties of use of this term in the field of urban planning and to expand the meaning of a term which has been marked with nostalgic return to the idea of community and romantization of sociability based on the solidarity, generosity and love for neighbour. The testing of the thesis that the neighbourhood is not a community understands the review of the togetherness basic principle. Andrew Mason considers that the concept of community falls into the ‘essentially disputable concepts’ wherefore the question is not about the confusion over the meaning which results from a different senses assigned by different persons to a particular term, but about the inconsistence which comes from the very nature of the term (Mason 2000: 18-20). The thesis that the neighbourhood is not a community takes into the consideration the disputation of the term community and examines the relation between these two terms whose natures evade the final determination. In other words, the neighbourhood is the place of constant revisions and corrections of the idea of community. Unlike the community on which applies the principle of entirety, the principle of openness is applying on the neighbourhood. This significant difference shows that the neighbourhood patterns are not the ways of organizing an ensemble (concept of a community of persons living together on a definite area) but a way to connect to an open gathering. In spatial term, these are not the ways of grouping or breaking the whole (collective form) but the possibilities of regrouping, measuring, inserting (joining) and separating (suspensions) – these are the ways of maintaining the gathering, namely the group forms open..

Transition of collective land in modernistic residential settings in New Belgrade, Serbia

Turbulent periods of transition from socialism to neoliberal capitalism, which have a ected the relationships between holders of power and governing structures in Serbia, have left a lasting impact on the urban spaces of Belgrade’s cityscape. The typical assumption is that the transformation of the urban form in the post-socialist transition is induced by planning interventions which serve to legitimize these neoliberal aspirations. The methodological approach of this paper is broadly structured as a chronological case analysis at three levels: the identification of three basic periods of institutional change, historical analysis of the urban policies that permitted transformation of the subject area, and morphogenesis of the selected site alongside the Sava River in New Belgrade. Neoliberal aspirations are traced through the moments of destruction and moments of creation as locally specific manifestations of neoliberal mechanisms observable through the urban form. Comparison of all three levels of the study traces how planning and political decisions have a ected strategic directions of development and, consequently, the dynamics and spatial logic of how new structures have invaded the street frontage. The paper demonstrates that planning interventions in the post-socialist transition period, guided by the neoliberal mechanisms, has had a profound impact on the super-block morphology

New churches in the cities of Serbia and site selection for their construction

New church construction in the cities of Serbia in the last 25 years is a consequence of restrictions and the marginalisation of religion during the pre-1989 socialist period. In the period from 1945 to 1989, almost no new churches were built, and urban planners in Serbia have not developed appropriate selection criteria for the location of new religious buildings. Religious buildings built in the period after 1990 were built on sites that were selected ad hoc without considering the needs of believers and churches. In the last 25 years, more than 400 churches have been built in rural areas and cities, which influenced the reshaping of the cultural landscape. In this paper, attention is given to determining the required number of churches, their location, and the distribution of the urban structure in relation to various relevant factors. The specific spatial organisation of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the homeland and in the diaspora is emphasized

Spatial Practices of Designing Desirable Spatial and Social Distance – Reaffirmation of Neighbourhood

Tekst ima za cilj da istraži odnos koncepta stambene zajednice koji je bio razvijen u projektantsko planerskoj praksi gradnje stambenih naselja u periodu dominacije kolektivnih vrednosti i struktura u Beogradu, i prostornih praksi njihovih konkretnih korisnika. Time se teži reafirmaciji pojma susedstva, koji koncept stambenih zajednica dominantan u planiranju velikih stambenih naselja tokom socijalizma nije eksplicitno prepoznavao. U uvodnom delu, najpre se definiše planesrki koncept stambene zajednice a potom i koncept susedstva razvijen u društvenim naukama. Polazna pretpostavka analize je da poštovanje principa teritorijalnog gradijenta u posmatranim rezidencijalnim celinama pruža osnove za razvoj ključnih dimenzija susedstva kao zajednice individualizovanih pojedinaca. U središnjem delu analize, pojam susedstva se dovodi u vezu sa produkcijom prostora, posebno sa pojmom prostornih praksi. Potom se na na konkretnim primerima prostornih praksi u naseljima nastalim tokom socijalizma, ilustruju aktivnosti stanovnika koje generišu kooperativnost i kohezivnost, kreativnost u korišćenju zajedničkih resursa, to jest njihov povratni efekat na projektovane prostorne strukture i njihov kvalitet. Analizirani primeri potvrđuju da se posmatranim planerskim odnosno projektovanim kolektivnim strukturama generišu susedski odnosi u manjim celinama, koje treba podržati u skladu sa očekivanim udruživanjem građana na poslovima upravljanja zajedničkim prostorijama stambenog objekta i pripadajuće parcele, kao i po pitanju organizovanja poslova održavanja prostora od zajedničkog interesa ne samo od strane javnog već i civilnog sektora. U cilju reafirmacije susedstva i rezultirajućih prostornih praksi kao bitnog elementa produkcije prostora, dati su i mogući predlozi u domenu planiranja i projektovanja.The paper aims to explore the relation between the concept of housing communities developed within designing and planning practices of residential settlements in the period of dominance of collective values and structures in Belgrade, and spatial practices of their actual users. Thereby it seeks to achieve the reaffirmation of the notion of neighborhood, which was not explicitly recognized in the dominant concept of housing communities and planning of large residential settlements in socialism. In the introductory part, the concept of housing dwellings is defined and then the concept of neighborhood, developed within social sciences. The initial assumption of the analysis is that respecting the principle of territorial gradient in the observed residential ensembles provides the basis for the development of neighborhood as communities of individual persons. In the central part of the analysis, the idea of neighborhood is brought into connection with the production of space, especially with the term spatial practices. Afterwards, based on specific examples of spatial practices in the settlements set up during socialism, residents’ activities are shown. They generate cooperation and cohesion, creativity in use of mutual resources, which is the positive effect of spatial structures and their quality. The planning and design of such settlements confirm that they generate neighborly relations in smaller units. It is only to be expected that residents should jointly take care of common rooms in their buildings or corresponding land plots as well as maintain space of common interest for both public and civil sector. In order to reaffirm the neighborhood and the resulting spatial practices which are an important element of the production of space, some suggestions are offered in the domain of planning and designing

Senjski Rudnik - Town of Miners - Regional Centre of Industrial Heritage - Museum of Coal Mining

Design and reuse of the building complex into a specific open-museum site, aims to establish a lasting image of this authentic space of the oldest industrial complex in Serbia. Intervention on the ground floor revives the images of production processes that ensured the coal distribution: industrial rails, station and wagons. Existing buildings will be reconstructed to have an authentic initial appearance, while ruined parts of the complex are being complemented by contemporary interpreting their initial forms and using materials such as glass and steel

Multifunctional Public Open Spaces for Sustainable Cities: Concept and Application

The idea that multifunctional open spaces support sustainable urban development has been widely accepted in theory and intensively used in practice of urban planning and design. It is based on the assumption that multifunctional spaces bring a wider spectrum of environmental, social and economic benefits to urban areas. And yet, multifunctionality of space is still a vague and diffuse concept that needs further clarifications. Besides that, different academic disciplines understand and use this concept in different ways. This makes the application of the concept difficult to assess and manage in relation to different aspects of urban sustainability. Through the literature review, this paper analyses and compares how the concept of multifunctionality is used in various spatial disciplines (urban planning and design, landscape architecture) in order to better understand and relate its different dimensions, applications and expected benefits for sustainable development. Based on this, a new, relational and multidimensional conceptualisation of the multifunctionality of public open spaces is proposed for analysis and assessment of urban design solutions. It is further applied and discussed in relation to students projects from “Ecological urban design studio” from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture, as visions for development of multifunctional public open spaces in modernist mass housing area of “Sava Blocks” in New Belgrade, Serbia.Ideja da je mutlifunkcionalnost otvorenih prostora važna za urbanu održivost se sve vise naglašava u teoriji i sve češće primenjuje u praksi urbanog planiranja i dizajna. Pretpostavlja se da multifunkcionalni prostori mogu da pruže širi spektar ekoloških, društvenih i ekonomskih koristi. Međutim, sam concept multifunkcionalnosti nije dovoljno teoretski elaboriran. Dodatno, različite akademske discipline konceptualizuju i koriste ovaj concept na različite načine. Usled toga je otežana procena kako multifunkcionalni otvoreni prostori stvarno doprinose održivom urbanom razvoju i kako ih razvijati sa tim ciljem. Ovim radom se, na osnovu pregleda literature, analiziraju i porede načini konceptualizacije i primene koncepta multifunkcionalnosti prostora u različitim displinama prostornog razvoja ( urbanističko planiranje i dizajn, pejzažno planiranje i arhitektura) kako bi se razumele i uspostavile veze između različitih dimenzija multifunkcionalnosti i očekivanih koristiod primene koncepta za održivi urbani razvoj. Na tim osnovama se definiše nova relacijska i multidimenzionalna konceptualizacija (multi)funkcionalnosti javnih otvorenih prostora kao analitički okvir za vrednovanje doprinosa projekata urbanog dizajna održivom razvoju. Primena novog analitičkog okvira se demonstrira i diskutuje na primeru studentskih projekata sa studija “Ekološki urbani dizajn” sa Univerziteta u Beogradu- Arhitektonskog fakultet, kao vizija razvoja multifunkcionalnih javnih otvorenih prostora modernističkog kompleksa “Savskih blokova” u Novom Beogradu u Srbiji