Planning Capital Cities

B Belgrade case study

As some other capital cities that once belonged to the Socialistic Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia^30 , Belgrade suffers under identity problems. The city
has the status of a capital for many years although the changing territorial
boundaries and names.^31 The turbulent period of the national states establishing
and its final outcome occurre at a time when the national community culture
and the state-level economy somewhat disappear from the global stage.^32 This
coincides with the period when the urban image and reputation start becoming
more powerful components in the global competition of the cities.

Belgrade has a multiple role and significance in the Republic of Serbia. It belongs
to the category MEGA4 of the European areas of growth and development. A
quarter of the population of Serbia live in Belgrade on 7.4% of the territory
of Serbia.^33 Belgrade has the highest concentration of scientific, intellectual,
cultural and service facilities, developed infrastructure and of resources in the
field of the information technologies, communications, creative industries and
public services. The city has a very important geo-strategic position on the River
Danube Corridor 7 and the Corridor 10. The location is of importance on the
intra-regional, regional as well as on the interregional level.^34 The conditions
for integrating the city of Belgrade in the the European metropolitan network
are very promising.

The planning and strategy documents – strategy

The discontinuity in almost all domains, the suffered image and the challenges
dictated by the global trends demand a fast, but wise response and the
establishing of an appropriate framework of strategies and plans for the
future. The beginning is set with the adoption of the Master Plan of Belgrade
202135 made by the Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade in 2003. The four

Milena Vukmirović

Fig. 3

The Flagship Project located

at the confluence of Sava and

Danube. (Vukmirović)