Budapest : ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences
Abstract
The modern-day practice of urban regeneration is generally perceived as a mean of
improving the physical and social tissue of cities and towns, along with involvement
of stakeholders in decision-making and respect of the basic postulates of sustainability.
The experience of the European post-socialist societies has however indicated that
market-driven urban development can raise many contradictions and critics. So far,
the research studies have shown that the current urban development of post-socialist
transitional Serbian society under the auspice of neoliberal capitalism (enthroned
on October 5, 2000) has spawned in many cases numerous negative outputs. Within
the frame of Serbian proto-democracy, this is an expected consequence of the abolition
of the general interest in favor of the private ones which paved the way to private-
investors oriented planning, simultaneously neglecting social and environmental
dimensions. Negative aspects of the prevailing neoliberal approach to urban regeneration
are primarily reflected in the example of the capital of Serbia, Belgrade. Mostly
futuristic residential and commercial/business complexes are springing up, mainly in
the core center or along waterfronts, the most famous of which is the contradictory
Belgrade Waterfront mega-project. New urban (mega)projects are most often shrouded
in secrecy, the public is informed from the media, in the phase when all decisions
have already been made without proper public participation. Numerous new housing
complexes in central municipalities contribute to densification but without provision
of accompanying social and educational facilities. The existing COVID-19 crisis has only
provided further increase of those negative trends. Though the analysis of some specific
urban regeneration projects in Belgrade we will tend to enlighten some lacks of
the existing market-oriented planning system, legal regulations, policies, partnerships
and other instruments and propose improvements of the existing practice.Editors: Márton Berki, Zsolt Bottlik, Michael Gentile, Margit Kőszegi, Gábor Nagy, Judit Timár, Gábor Tolnai and Tünde Virág