actualisations since 2003^36 reflect the steps of maintenance of the urban
plans under the Law on Planning and Construction and the changing needs
of the Republic of Serbia and the city of Belgrade.^37 The second document of
importance is the Regional Plan for the Administrative Territory of the City
of Belgrade adopted in 2004^38. The Plan states as a main goal the protection,
spatial planning and development of the city in correlation with its metropolitan
area on the principles of the sustainable development. It is expected that the
implementation of the plan would increase the attractiveness of the city and
provide the conditions for reaching the standards of the European capitals.^39 The
last reference developmental document is The City of Belgrade Development
Strategy. The Strategy has been adopted in March 2011 with the basic goal to
find the best manners to raise the City of Belgrade on a higher level, the level
of the big European cities, by a modern economy and advanced technology, to
help it become a capital in which the citizens will live prosperously, safely, and in
a healthy environment.^40
Within the objectives and the strategic priorities, the task is to strengthen the
city’s position in the constellation of the European capitals, i.e. to enhance
the economic and cultural structures, to regulate the urban and rural areas
according to the contemporary ecological and aesthetic standards, to integrate
the natural and cultural goods in its territory and to highlight the important
markers of identity.
The Strategy defines the basic recommendations for strengthening Belgrade’s
identity as a criterion for the economic development and especially for the
tourism, as well as the affiliation of the citizens to the territory they live on.
Considering the actual tendencies, the city’s identity is marked mainly by
the central urban zone, and in absolute terms, the position of Belgrade on
the mouth of Sava and Danube. But in the future the emphasis will be on the
restoration of the existing urban structures, especially the central parts, their
compactness, identity, mixed uses, green areas, river banks, as well as facilities
and complexes of capital value. The natural and cultural heritage will have a
special role in this, and the city will try to draw maximum value from this part of
its capital, thus competing in a special manner with the European capitals.^41 The
strengthening of the competitiveness is seen as a fundamental goal as well. It
has to be achieved among others by the activation of dormant resources as well
as the mobilization of the local capital, inactive so far.^42
As the first document of this kind, the Strategy defines the priorities for the
period 2011-2016.^43 After observing a great number of projects in their sense as
markers of the city identity and as a form of the city’s primary communication,
we studied five on-going projects defined in the strategy as topics of priority:
the Beko Master Plan, the City on Water, the Ada Bridge, the Beton Hall and the
Belgrade Waterfront. The projects belong to the “natural core” of the city - the
confluence of Sava and Danube, recognised as the basic symbol of Belgrade’s
European identity.
Belgrade: The quest for the desired city image