The Beauty or the Beast? Can Illegal Housing Tackle the Problem of Social Integration and Social Housing?

Serbia as a neighbouring EU country is, like some other countries, facing the problems of incoherent urban and regional development, of tackling the urban growth and of deficit of integrated urban strategies. On the other hand, specific problems of Serbia are related to the possibilities of integration of special socioeconomic groups, such as low income citizens, refugees etc. Having this in mind, it is understandable that Serbia is coping with even bigger problem of affordable and social housing, which has become an emergency even in cities with a weak demographic growth in developed countries. The problem of the lack of adequate affordable housing and its capacity is often followed by the problem of real social integration of vulnerable social groups. The pressure of these problems is more visible in Belgrade, Serbian capital since it deals with the demographic pressure and growth for a long time, and especially in past two decades. As a consequence of this pressure many previously agriculture areas at the fringes of the city have become illegal settlements. Being a developing country severely hit by economic crisis in past few years, Serbia will not easily reform its housing policy and enable growth of the affordable housing which will meet demands. It is also not very likely to expect that the problem of illegal settlements will vanish or even lessen since the actual Serbian political framework is encouraging legalization process. So what is to be done? Is it realistic to treat such big issues of urban development separately? Or maybe it is possible to change the prospective and try use problems in the way they partly solve each other? This paper will enlighten the problem of illegal housing in unconventional way – by trying to understand the illegal settlements as areas of social/affordable housing and social integration. It will also discuss the possibilities of urban upgrading and regeneration of illegal settlements making them liveable places and areas which can be integrated into the Belgrade development

The possibilities of the application of the concept of healthy city in illegal settlements in Serbia

The importance of healthy life has become important issue in cotemporary settlements in last decades. Thereby the meaning of “health” has been transformed from strictly sectorial view to a wider interpretation, being used in the context of local community and city development. This broader prospect has resulted in the creation of healthy city concept as a recognisable theoretical concept, based on the striving for healthy environment and good quality of life. Globally, communities face pressing health challenges related to the built environment, so the awareness about the need to make the link between human health and development has grown, as well as the urge of establishing the concept for a healthy city. While the framework and general goals are being recognised internationally, the local adjustments and characteristics, related to the national and regional context, have not yet been made. Further, special challenge is how to approach to less developed communities and areas in developing countries in transition, such as Serbia. Even bigger challenge is to examine and test the possibilities of the application of the healthy city concept for the illegal settlements in Serbia. In such settlements, which lack basic infrastructure, amenities and services, the need for improving the quality of life is even bigger. This paper aims to contribute to the advance of practice and policy for healthy places and cities, by defining a local sensitive approach for the informal areas in Serbia

Integrative and locally sensitive approach to the community planning in Serbia

Creating a sustainable and balanced relation between urban and rural settlements cannot be imagined without the integrative approach to the territorial development, which again, relies upon the environmental protection and economic and social cohesion within the spatial framework. Once neglected and not treated as equally important as the ecological sustainability, the social sustainability and cohesion have been gaining importance during the 21st century. As one of the pillars of the social sustainability and cohesion, public places and services have drawn a great attention worldwide recently. At the same time, public services planning remains one of the most important themes of urban and spatial planning and is actual despite the fact that the wider context- planning of the public sector – was treated exhaustively both in theory and practice. On the other hand, public services have been much less the subject of research - and almost exclusively in the field of urban sociology, while very little in the field of the methodology of urban/spatial planning. In light of this, the focus of the discussion is the spatial aspect and methodological innovation of the planning of public services and its importance within community planning, as a support to the spatial development of the community, with special regard to the locally sensitive approach. Focusing the research on the spatial domain has come from the integrating character of the territory which reflects the relations of the planned activities and land uses, regardless of their spatial characteristics. This choice is entirely in accordance with the integrative character of modern urban/spatial planning, as well as the integrative nature of the sustainable development. The locally sensitive approach ensures better implementation and adaptation of the general concepts to the local needs. The results of the research aim to improve the theoretical basis for planning and contribute to the establishing better practices of the public services planning in Serbia

The role of cognitive-cultural economy in city's global positioning

Transition to post-Fordist economy and knowledge society has intensively influenced ways cities compete and position in global hierarchy. In Fordist cities competitive advantage was coming from its industry value. In globalization position of cities in urban hierarchy was a result of concentration of globally important cooperations, highly specialised services and international organizations. The 21st century brought new shift. The concentration of knowledge, innovation, talent and educated people in the city are primary determinants of its global competitiveness. Growth and strength of leading cities is deriving from highly developed cognitive-cultural economy. Cognitive-cultural economy presents groups of industries and occupations that require deductive reasoning capacities, technical knowledge, cultural skills and visual imagination, such as hightechnology industries, business and services (especially ITC) and cultural industries bond with technology (especially games, film and media). Cognitive-cultural economy is intensely concentrated in cities, especially in the top cities of global urban hierarchy, contributing to city’s wealth and position. Cognitive-cultural economy is not equally present in cities, not even in all cities at the top of the global urban hierarchy. It has boomed in some cities and enhanced their global position, and in others is present only as support for financial and service sectors. The paper will try to investigate what is it that contributes to the cognitive-culture economy development in cities. Does amenities and special atmosphere of the city that attract creative people contribute to cognitive economy, or does clustering of companies, or social networks and jobs opportunities? The paper aims to assume cognitive-cultural development stimulation methods, which can influence city’s global position

The illegal settlements in Belgrade vs. taming city growth: case study of Belgrade

The paper will explore the genesis and growth of illegal settlements in Serbian capital, with the aim to present the specificity of informal housing areas and to offer a possible approach for taming its further growth. Serbia is, like some other Balkan countries, facing the problems of incoherent urban and regional development, of tackling the urban growth and of deficit of integrated urban strategies. On the other hand, specific problems of Serbia are related to the possibilities of integration of special socio-economic groups, such as low income citizens. This pressure of these problems is most visible in Belgrade since it deals with the demographic pressure and growth for a long time. As a consequence of this pressure many previously agriculture areas at the fringes of the city have become illegal settlements. On one hand, the paper will discuss spatial distribution and overall impact of illegal housing settlements in Belgrade territory, related to the sustainable urban growth and sustainable urban land use. One the other hand, it will offer the methodological framework given as the choice of aspects that should be treated in the process of integration of illegal settlements, while regulatory framework will point out the issues related to the shaping of settlements as liveable places. Conclusion remarks will emphasize the benefits and constraints of the chosen path for the integration process

Food tourism concept - creating synergy between urban and rural places - case study of Maglič, Serbia

Food tourism is being seen as one of the fastest growing industries over the second half of the twentieth century (e.g. Saeter, 1998; Smith, 1988) and a key support for the rural development. In declining rural areas, food tourism is often seen as an additional economic activity and a method of retaining rural regions (Font and Ahjem, 1999). Urban-rural connections are important for poverty assuagement, sustainable rural land use and balanced territorial development in general. Additionally, strong bonds can improve the overall living conditions and employment chances for both rural and urban areas (Tacoli, 1998, 2003; Rosenthal, 2000). The primary purpose of this study is to foster relationships between urban and rural areas by developing a concept proposal for food tourism, through the........ at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade. The proposal was created during the two theoretical and project-based courses, focused on the sustainable planning and design in the natural environment. The location chosen for the project is a medieval fortress ..... with its surroundings, located in the gorge of Ibar, 20 km south of the city of Kraljevo. Having lost its primary function, the site is nowadays poorly visited. This problem is seen as a challenge to reinvent the urban/rural landscape and create an attractive ambient which relates to the revitalised historical site. As a result, the specific concept of food tourism called “slow food” is developed, both based on tradition and modern values, further elaborated through the planning proposal and urban design project. Following the specific planning and urban design methodology, the extensive research is drawn upon mostly primary and secondary sources, including analysis of urban plans in different scales, comprehensive literature review, as well as cooperation with local authorities and institutions. The full purpose and value of the proposal are confirmed by the city government of Kraljevo and several city agencies and institutes, as the proposal initialized the discussion and revival of the ideas for the important but forgotten historic place and its rural background

mproving the concept of spatial planning development of public services in Serbia in accordance with the principles of sustainable development

Окосницу докторске дисертације представља истраживање могућности унапређења методологије планирања просторног развоја јавних служби у Србији. Потреба за унапређењем теоријске основе планирања јавних служби као и допринос успостављању квалитетније праксе њиховог планирања проистекла је из претходних истраживања и сагледавања проблема у области јавних служби и одредила мотиве за избор теме. Динамичан развој у савременом свету, а посебно у земљама у транзицији као што је Србија намеће промене у развоју дисциплине планирања просторног развоја јавних служби и истраживање нових или прилагођених образаца рада. Иако се може рећи да постоје широко прихваћени и признати принципи засновани на теоретским истраживањима или међународним документима, универзални обрасци прилагођени пракси не постоје. Стога је преиспитивање и редефинисање контекстуално специфичних методолошких алата и даље изазован истраживачки задатак. Планирање јавних служби у дужем периоду у Србији карактерише неадекватан, контрадикторан и незаокружен развојни оквир који се нашао у процепу између напуштеног нормативног модела планирања јавних служби у контексту планске привреде са једне стране, и неолибералног, тржишно оријентисаног модела привреде, процеса приватизације и депланификације уопште и дезинтеграције система јавних служби, са друге стране. Изузев урбанистичког/просторног плана као производа, није постојао, а ни сада не постоји интегришући оквир планирања и развоја јавних служби. Проблеми су посебно изражени на локалном, примарном нивоу јавних служби, који се одликује величином, густином и дисперзијом у простору, али и неуједначеном просторном дистрибуцијом. Делимично централизован систем у домену планирања и финансирања јавних служби на републичком нивоу, у фази је урушавања. Узрок оваквог стања лежи у неадекватно вођеним политикама и недефинисаним циљевима и критеријумима за просторни развој. Поред тога, евидентан је проблем просторне неосетљивости у овом домену, као и слабо укључивање просторно-физичког аспекта планирања и других битних утицајних фактора (Митровић, 2006)...The core of the doctoral dissertation presents a research of the methodology improvement possibilities for the spatial development planning of public services in Serbia. The need to improve the theoretical basis of public services planning, as well as the contribution to establishing their better planning practice stemmed from previous research and insight into the problems in the field of public services and determined the motives for the selection of topic. The dynamic development in the modern world, especially in countries in transition such as Serbia imposes changes in the development of the sector of public services and its spatial development planning, as well as exploring new or adjusting existing working patterns. Although it is well known that there are widely accepted and recognized principles based on theoretical research and international documents, universal patterns that are adapted to practice do not exist. Therefore, the review and redefinition of contextually specific methodological tools remains a challenging research task. Over long period, planning of public services in Serbia is characterized by inadequate, contradictory and uncompleted development framework, which has found itself in the gap between the abandoned normative model of planning public services in the context of the planned economy on one hand, and the neo-liberal, market-oriented model of the economy, the privatization and deregulation processes and the disintegration of the public services system, on the other hand. Other than urban/spatial plan as a product, an integrating framework of planning and development of public services never existed, nor it exists now. The problems are particularly visible at the local, primary level of public services, which is characterized by size, density and dispersion in the territory, but also by uneven spatial distribution. Partially centralized system in the field of planning and financing of public services at the national level, is collapsing. The cause of this situation lies in the inadequate policies and undefined goals and criteria for spatial development. In addition, there is a problem of spatial insensitivity in this domain, as well as poor inclusion of spatial and physical aspects of planning and other important influencing factors. (Mitrović, 2006.)..

Coping with Migrants' Flow in Balkans: Case Study of Serbia Resolving Migrants' Housing Problems

This paper presents a case study from Serbia, a local setting that faced a migration crisis in 1990s, that continued at the beginning of the 21st century. The focus is on urban planning, new governance practice and housing solutions as a response to the crisis. Serbia faced problems regarding the influx of migrants - refugees (displaced persons from Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina), internally displaced people (IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija), and immigrants (from another countries), without a ready-to-use policy. The process of political, economic and social transition went hand in hand with the migration crisis. Urban planning practice and housing policy were subsequently affected by these processes. As an EU candidate and a country committed to UN programs, Serbia received support for the socio-economic integration of migrants in several international programs. This paper takes a stock of the 25 years long efforts in implementation of formal urban planning and new governance instruments for housing solutions for migrants in Serbia. The research examines the relationship between national and international programs in the field on one hand, and state-level and local policies and practices on the other. It analyses the legal framework, regulations and norms, and governance practices in the field of housing solutions for migrants. The findings related to the good practice examples are discussed in the context of responsiveness of planning practice and urban governance to migrations in Serbia

The Taming of the Shrew: Coping with Illegal Settlements in Belgrade, Serbia

One of the most important aspects of sustainable planning today is sustainable land use and managing city growth. Urban sprawls, regardless of reasons causing their spread, are considered as one of the biggest problems in the development of cities in developing countries. Belgrade has been and is witnessing a wide spread illegal housing and settlements in its suburban areas during a long period. This paper will explore the genesis and growth of illegal settlements in Serbian capital, with the aim to present the specificity of informal housing areas, to give general recommendations for its improvement and to offer a possible approach for taming its further growth. Starting points are the analysis, typology, spatial distribution and overall impact of illegal housing settlements in Belgrade territory on one hand, while on the other hand the theoretical background, related to the sustainable urban growth and sustainable urban land use will be presented. Furthermore, the paper refers to the methodological framework given as the choice of aspects that should be treated in the process of integration of illegal settlements, while regulatory framework will point out the issues related to the shaping of settlements as liveable places. Conclusion remarks will emphasize the benefits and constraints of the chosen path for the integration process

Implementing sustainable planning of Smederevo territory through concepts of agro tourism and healthy city

The chapter presents the process, methodology and results during the development of Master thesis and Master project in 2017-18., at the Master course Integral Urbanism – Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, under the topic: Sustainable urban and spatial planning as a support for cultural identity development of the territory of the city of Smederevo. The focus of the chapter is to enlighten the pedagogical methodology, and educational and creative process which led to high quality results – projects for, and with the support of the local community of Smederevo. The background research is rooted in ecological sustainability as the most important and possibly the most developed and implemented aspect, while other aspects of sustainability are treated as secondary. Although the ecological sustainability was mentioned 30 years ago, it remained one of the biggest concerns for the territory development and planning, equally important in urban, as well as in protected natural areas. Having in mind the resources, but also constrains of the territory of Smederevo, it was a challenge to test the applicability of different sustainable models through the development of Master thesis/projects. The complex structure of this case study of the territory showed conflicted land uses, and underutilized or derelict zones, which urged for a specific approach, detailed information base and insight into the valid planning documentation. At the same time, it was an exhaustless source of inspiration and ideas. The result was a comprehensive and multi-levelled approach to the urban planning and urban design solutions, which are feasible, implementable and acknowledged by the local authorities and experts