The mapping and enumeration of Informal Roma Settlements in Serbia

This paper describes five examples of mapping and enumerating poor informal Roma settlements in Serbia, implemented in the last decade by non-governmental organizations and Roma associations as a prelude to different upgrading projects. Their contexts, processes and outcomes are discussed and their common patterns and approaches are summarized. The characteristics and types of Roma settlements are described within the framework of the Roma’s poverty and social exclusion and the lack of adequate responses by national and local authorities to the difficult housing situation in Roma settlements. This paper considers ways of overcoming the gap between the need for reliable mapping and enumeration data and the actual situation, where informal Roma settlements are neither put on official maps in Serbia nor included in formal records, unlike other city areas

Land cover changes of the Belgrade area over the past three centuries

This paper studies land cover changes of Belgrade, over the past three centuries. For this purpose, we applied an interdisciplinary approach by integrating historical and landscape ecological perspectives. We produced four reconstruction maps presenting land cover around the turn of the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, based on historical maps and written sources. The conversion of land cover from historical maps was done based on CORINE Land Cover level 3, while Land Cover level 1 was used for displaying on the reconstruction maps. This allowed us to compare the changes that occurred from the turn of one century to the next. It was determined that land cover of Belgrade has transformed from dominantly semi-natural in the 18th century, to agricultural in the 19th century, and artificial in the 20th century. We determined that the driving forces of land cover changes were activities that were part of the political agendas of various states that governed Belgrade. The present analysis bridges the gap in the relevant literature on land cover changes in Belgrade in the long-term, and provides qualitative and quantitative results relevant for research-based management actions, planning processes and restoration ecology

Architects’ Attitudes to the Housing Issue in the Interwar Serbia

„Stambenim pitanjem“ u međuratnoj Jugoslaviji nazivano je razmatranje stambene situacije siromašnih stanovnika i traženje rešenja za odgovarajući stan. Stambena kriza која је nakon Prvog svetskog rata potresala Evropu, bila je izuzetno izražena i u novoformiranoj Kraljevini Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca, kasnije Kraljevina Jugoslavija. Loš kvalitet nasleđenog stambenog fonda, ratna razaranja i intenzivne migracije iz sela u gradove, za posledicu su imali ozbiljan nedostatak stanova. U evropskim državama, prevashodno onim koje su imale pro-socijalističke vlade, reakcija na takvo stanje je bila višestruka, a arhitekte su imali značajno mesto u realizaciji stambenih programa. Predmet ovog rada jeste odnos arhitekata prema stambenom pitanju velikog broja siromašnog gradskog stanovništva u međuratnoj Srbiji. Njihovo angažovanje i stav su sagledani preko delovanja unutar vodećih profesionalnih udruženja i grupacija. Koristeći savremene izvore poput stručnih časopisa, izveštaja i javnih predavanja, u radu je rekonstruisan odgovor srpskih arhitekata na složeno stambeno pitanje u međuratnom period.This paper discusses the architects’ attitude toward housing problems of the large population of urban poor in interwar Serbia. A severe housing crisis that shook Europe after the end of World War I was also very pronounced in the newly formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia. In European countries, especially those with pro-socialist governments, the response was manifold and diverse. It involved the establishment of garden suburbs, the construction of industrial settlements and residential districts, as well as the development of multi-year housing programs, such as the “Red Vienna” and the French Habitations à loyer modéré. Architects played an important role in the implementation of these housing projects. At their second meeting held in Frankfurt in 1929, the Congrès internationaux d’architecture moderne (CIAM) elaborated the issue of the minimum dwelling for low-income households (Die Wohnung für das Existenzminimum). What was the response of architects and their associations to the pronounced housing crisis in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Serbia? In 1919, Serbian architects joined the newly established Association of Yugoslav Engineers and Architects (UJIA). Among the diversified contributions that can be found in the “Technical Gazette” (Tehnički list), the official bulletin of UJIA, published twice a month, with a total of 480 issues between 1919 and 1939, the coverage of housing issues was sporadic. In this respect, the articles on Ebenezer Howard’s concept of a garden city, by architect Jan Dubový (1925) stood out for its integrated approach to the technical, economic, aesthetic and social aspects of the architectural activity related to the housing for the poor. While the socially engaged architecture was one of the postulates of the international architectural avant-garde, the members of the Belgrade Group of Architects of the Modern Movement (GAMM) were primarily focused on the form and aesthetics of residential architecture. Branko Maksimović, one of the most active members of GAMM, was concerned with housing issues, but rather as a freelance architect than as a member of the group. On the other hand, the authorities rarely invited architects to participate in the sporadic housing projects that they implemented. The lack of an active social response of Serbian architects to the shortage of small, healthy and affordable dwelling for poor residents partly reflected the general lack of a welfare state and the political will of the ruling authoritarian regime to address the housing problem systemically

New Belgrade: From a Socialist Ideal to a Fragmented Space of Fashionable Architecture

New Belgrade, home to about 250,000 inhabitants, is part of Belgrade, the capital of the Republic of Serbia. Despite this area’s slightly older history, New Belgrade’s large-scale development began after the end of the Second World War. This chapter critically examines one century of New Belgrade (1919-2020), focusing on its transformation since 1985 in response to profound changes in political and social environments. During the decades of construction, New Belgrade crossed the path from a socialist functional neighbourhood to a neoliberal space embodied in chaotic urbanism and expensive architecture. This chapter moves diachronically and synchronously through four periods, using a theoretical framework – the relationship of the social system, political leaders, city planning, management, and construction – to explain the development of New Belgrade

Protection of Cultural Heritage and Strategic Environmental Assessment in Serbia

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was introduced in the Republic of Serbia in the year 2004. After a decade of the Implementation SEA represents an integral part within planning and the environmental management process. The basic framework – methodological and procedural is given by the Law on Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Republic of Serbia, which do mandate an impact assessment also to the cultural heritage and, as well determining the measures that adverse effects may be prevented, reduced and eliminated. The paper gives an overview of the current framework within the SEA, with particular reference to the role of this instrument within the process of management and protection of the cultural heritage. In addition, the paper elaborates the state within the information database within SEA in RS, particularly to what extent is established the monitoring system of information and data within SEA studies, when it comes to cultural heritage conservation. As one of the conclusions, the paper stresses the indirect effect of the SEA within the formation of an information database within the country's cultural heritage authorities and institutions involved in the SEA. This refers, primarily, to updating of the existing information database while still is missing adequate transmission of the information within SEA process regarding cultural heritage situation and conservation

Protection of Cultural Heritage and Strategic Environmental Assessment in Serbia

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was introduced in the Republic of Serbia in the year 2004. After a decade of the Implementation SEA represents an integral part within planning and the environmental management process. The basic framework – methodological and procedural is given by the Law on Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Republic of Serbia, which do mandate an impact assessment also to the cultural heritage and, as well determining the measures that adverse effects may be prevented, reduced and eliminated. The paper gives an overview of the current framework within the SEA, with particular reference to the role of this instrument within the process of management and protection of the cultural heritage. In addition, the paper elaborates the state within the information database within SEA in RS, particularly to what extent is established the monitoring system of information and data within SEA studies, when it comes to cultural heritage conservation. As one of the conclusions, the paper stresses the indirect effect of the SEA within the formation of an information database within the country's cultural heritage authorities and institutions involved in the SEA. This refers, primarily, to updating of the existing information database while still is missing adequate transmission of the information within SEA process regarding cultural heritage situation and conservation

Garden City in Interwar Serbia: From England via Russia

This article examines the impact of the authors of Russian origin in applying the concept of a garden city in interwar Serbia in response to rapid urbanisation and uncontrolled urban growth of many Serbian cities. After the Revolution in 1917, about 250 architects and civil engineers immigrated to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from Russia and got actively involved in design and construction work in their adopted homeland. Some played an essential role in urban planning practice in Serbia. To explain their contribution, examples of planned and realised garden-city-type neighbourhoods in two cities, Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, and Kragujevac, the centre of military industry in middle Serbia, are analysed. By examining unpublished archives documents, original urban plans and the little-known book Big City and Garden-cities (Большoй городь и города-сады) by George Pavlovich Kovalevsky, this paper aims to set new directions for critical research on knowledge transfer in urban planning theory and practice between Russia and Serbia

Engineer and Prince: modernization and Europeanization of Belgrade

Инжењер Емилијан Јосимовића израдио је 1867. године план за регулацију и реконструкцију београдске Вароши у Шанцу, који је током наредног периода готово у целости реализован. У литератури је углавном разматран значај Јосимовићевог рада за успех плана, док је утицај и допринос других актера из тадашњег друштвено-политичког миљеа остао занемарен. У овом чланку је анализирана повезаност намера које је износио кнез Михаило Обреновић као наручилац и решења које је давао Емилија Јосимовић као планер, али и обратно, Јосимовићевих идеја које је усвојио кнез. Кључне теме које је Јосимовић обрадио у плану и Објаснењу предлога за регулисање оног дела вароши Београда што лежи у шанцу, као што су: интеграција ткива, кеј и пристаниште, тунел, железница, Калемегдан, уређење Горњег града и ботаничка башта, разматране су у контексту тадашњих потребе и тежњи власти да Београд преобрати у модеран европски град. План који је Јосимовић понудио српској елити, а који је она прихватила, имао је две одлике. Прво, припадао је типу грид-плана који je коришћен у планирању многих градова Европе, чиме је представљао својеврстан симбол европског града. Друго, теме које је Јосимовић обрадио биле су модерне, те је и сам план одражавао модеран поглед на град. Користећи Јосимовићево Објаснење, мемоарску грађу и друге изворе, у раду је приказано како је политичка агенда врха државне власти била у интеракцији са професионалним одлукама о изгледу и садржини плана, што је допринело његовом спровођењу.In 1867, the engineer Emilijan Josimović developed a plan for the regulation and reconstruction of Belgrade’s Varoš u Šancu, which was almost completely implemented in the following period. In the literature, the importance of Josimović’s work for the success of the plan has been discussed in considerable detail, while the influence and contribution of other actors from the then socio-political milieu have remained neglected. This article analyses the connection between the intentions of Prince Mihailo Obrenović, as the commissioner, and the solutions proposed by Emilijan Josimović as the planner, and vice versa – it highlights Josimović’s ideas embraced by the Prince. The key topics elaborated by Josimović in the plan and the accompanying expository document (Objasnenje predloga za regulisanje onog dela varoši Beograda što leži u šancu), such as: the integration of the urban fabric, quay and dock, tunnel, railroad, Kalemegdan, the reconstruction of the Upper Town and the botanical garden, have been analyzed in the context of the needs and aspirations of the authorities to transform Belgrade into a modern European city. The plan offered by Josimović to the Serbian elite, and embraced by it, had two hallmarks. First, it belonged to the type of grid plan used in the planning of many cities in Europe and assumed to be a symbol of European city. Secondly, the topics covered by Josimović were modern, and the plan reflected a modern idea of the city. Relying on Josimović’s Objasnenje, memoirs and other sources, the paper shows how the political agenda of the supreme state authorities interacted with professional decisions concerning the layout and the content of the plan, thereby contributing to its implementatio

Stanovanje u Srbiji: stanje i trendovi

Кoristeći rezultate Ankete o prihodima i uslovima života (The Survey on Income and Living Conditions – SILC) u radu su analizirani pokazatelji koji se tiču uslova stanovanja i stambene deprivacije u Srbiji, u periodu od 2013. do 2017. godine, na osnovu kojih su uočeni i prikazani neki trendovi o stanovanju u državi. Anketa se sprovodi na godišnjem nivou, po jedinstvenoj metodologiji Zavoda za statistiku Evropske unije – Evrostat. U Srbiji anketu izvodi Republički zavod za statistiku od 2013. godine

From Ottoman Gardens to European Parks: Transformation of Green Spaces in Belgrade

At the turn of the 20th century, there was a striving in Europe to establish a balance between the constructed city fabric and green space. Parks and squares with greenery became just as important as showcase buildings and entities within the city center. This paper investigates Belgrade’s green areas, taking a concise look at their transformation in the historical context: changes in the city center during the 19th century, and concern for health and hygiene in the first half of the 20th century. The paper presents the production of green spaces in Belgrade’s city center through the metamorphosis of devastated and abandoned public and private spaces, and through the creation of new green areas. This paper examines the relationship between culture and nature in Belgrade, within the context of its urban history, and its place values, changed by the new capitalist production of space