The divisive urban and ecological legacies along Belgrade's Waterfront

Filming to give voices to the suppressed in architectural and urban planning processes
Belgrade waterfront
Title: The divisive urban and ecological legacies along Belgrade's Waterfront
Funding: The Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (University of Belgrade, Serbia): 2023 – £800; Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) IAA Impact Initiation Fund, UK: 2022 – £5,010
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
Project dates: October 2022 – March 2023
Project partners in Belgrade: Dr Sanja Iguman, Laboratory for Theory, Creation and Politics of Space at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory; Dr Ivan Simic (architect and urban planner); Dr Ana Peric (academic and planner); Aleksandar Obradovic (civic organisation – Philopolitics); Iva Cukic (NGO – Collective Ministry of Space); Predrag Momcilovic (political activist – Centre for Green Politics); Maja Curcic and Marko Djukic (Art Aparat)
University of Plymouth PI: Dr Nikolina Bobic
 

Summary

Dr Nikolina Bobic worked with several civic organisations, activists, and NGOs in Belgrade to understand the divisive urban and ecological legacies involved in the remaking of Belgrade's Waterfront.
This redevelopment is steeped in a specific 'playing out' of orders of governance. The megaproject is an example of covert mechanisms of regulation, achieved through rapid privatisation, transnational real estate, and the manipulation of laws to limit the public and professional engagement of urban and architectural representatives.
Belgrade waterfront

This was the first project that I worked on which was solely impact driven and that was quite novel. Working in this way has given me a better understanding of the importance of impact, and its significance in dislocating the outdated idea of a schism between academia and the wider community. We need to work more collaboratively with communities; I think this is certainly one trajectory that my research will now take.

Nikolina BobicDr Nikolina Bobic
Lecturer in Architecture (History & Theory)

This impact study sought to better understand the legacies and more recent governance behind the contentious redevelopment of the Belgrade Waterfront from the NGO, civic organisation, and activist perspective by providing a broader understanding of the voices that have been silenced in this regeneration process and the ways in which urban ecologies have been affected.
The project was heralded with a workshop, five-part short film impact campaign, and a traditional research output.
The issues discussed in films were thematically organised around ecology, heritage, public space, identity and symbolism. Longer term goals include using the Belgrade impact study as a testbed to address the extent to which the apparent ordering of waterfronts, through regeneration and spatial redevelopment, camouflages (dis)ordered politics of governance, and stifles citizens' voices in other cities such as Plymouth and Rio de Janeiro.

SHAPE disciplines address global challenges associated with marine, health and sustainability through the lens of place

Through five place-based research themes, we investigate the intricate relationships between communities, the natural world, and technology.
Locally, we co-create sustainable solutions to complex problems in order to build resilient and thriving neighbourhoods, cities, and regions. This work transcends geographical, social and political boundaries to become applicable on a global level.
Place-based research concept: crowd of people standing on a computer motherboard (full-bleed)
SHAPE – Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts for People and the Economy