Dalia Dukanac | University of Belgrade (original) (raw)
Papers by Dalia Dukanac
Urban planning, Mar 20, 2024
In this article, we seek to provide a new line of sight referring to specificities of the neolibe... more In this article, we seek to provide a new line of sight referring to specificities of the neoliberal turn in post-socialist societies and corresponding transformations of space. By employing the methodological approach that side-by-side explores two mutually exclusive strategies of analytical and empirical survey, we intend to tackle the question of irreducible antinomies pertinent to architectural research methodologies. Block 23 of the Central Zone of New Belgrade, designed by Branislav Karadžić, Božidar Janković, and Aleksandar Stjepanović (1968), has been widely recognised and aptly studied as one of the highlights of modern urban planning and design, conceived and realised in the period of late socialism in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia). Featuring a notion of a "parallax gap," we presume that the reading of Block 23 through two close yet clearly distinctive perspectives can bring a new scope of knowledge and point to the gap inscribed in the buildings themselves. The first point of view is empirical, centred on the notion of everyday life, and concerns the interpretation and use of space by its inhabitants. The second one is analytical, determined by the work of the architect and architectural theoretician, Branislav Milenković. We start from their point of contact and seek to find a shift in the diverging discursive positions producing a parallax gap. By way of architectural drawing, we explore and theorise new possibilities opened up by the actual buildings: interstitial, intermediary, transitional spaces, and spatial in-betweens. We hope to demonstrate the pursuit of both meticulously planned and dynamically conceived spaces open for the unpredictable was not only a way to respond to specific Yugoslav socio-political realities, but that it fostered the capacity of architecture to accommodate the future population and socioeconomic transformations.
The need to develop the variety of sustainable and cooperative solutions necessary for supporting... more The need to develop the variety of sustainable and cooperative solutions necessary for supporting communities has a weak basis in critiques of previous residential community models and practically non-existent participation. Post-socialist structures usually respond by strengthening local government cooperating with globally oriented organizations, but the idea of overcoming the sacred role of central government has usually proven to be an illusion, and centralization of power seems inevitable. Participation is no longer a matter of ideology but of the free market; however local authorities can assume the role of mediator between the specific interests of individuals and the institutional frameworks of investors. Simulation of participation can have an educational role for both sides if it is conducted gradually in a contextually appropriate manner. The case study presented in this paper includes a three-year project between an EU-sponsored program and municipalities in several coun...
Planning Perspectives, 2019
ABSTRACT This article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban ... more ABSTRACT This article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban renewal programme in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) in the 1980s. We argue that these typologies were tested against the socialist-modernist model of mass residential construction that had been dominant since the 1960s. Our research identifies the design methodologies employed in the insertion of collective housing typologies into an elite residential quarter of traditionally-planned detached family houses, in the case of high-standard housing project Dedinje II/2 (1979–1986) designed by the architect Zoran Županjevac. The article particularly focuses on local adaptation of the transnational concept of designing spaces of transition between community and privacy. Instrumental in this adaptation, we aim to show, was the educational experience and professional practice critical of radical modernism gained by the architect in the USA, UK and Austria. In particular, we find that the project reflects the transfer of knowledge and experience across cultural, geographic and political contexts. The resulting typologies, we contend, not only represented an example of a pluralist approach to late-socialist architecture but provided models for re-thinking housing in the transition to the market economy of the post-socialist period.
Planning Perspectives Volume 35, Number 6, 2020, 2020
The article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban renewal pr... more The article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban renewal programme in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) in the 1980s. We argue that these typologies were tested against the socialistmodernist model of mass residential construction that had been dominant since the 1960s. Our research identifies the design methodologies employed in the insertion of collective housing typologies into an elite residential quarter of traditionally-planned detached family houses, in the case of high standard housing project Dedinje II/2 (1979–1986) designed by the architect Zoran Županjevac. The article particularly focuses on local adaptation of the transnational concept of designing spaces of transition between community and privacy. Instrumental in this adaptation, we aim to show, was the educational experience and professional practice critical of radical modernism gained by the architect in the USA, UK and Austria. In particular, we find that the project reflects the transfer of knowledge and experience across cultural, geographic and political contexts. The resulting typologies, we contend, not only represented an example of a pluralist approach to late-socialist architecture but provided models for re-thinking housing in the transition to the market economy of the post-socialist period.
Urban planning, Mar 20, 2024
In this article, we seek to provide a new line of sight referring to specificities of the neolibe... more In this article, we seek to provide a new line of sight referring to specificities of the neoliberal turn in post-socialist societies and corresponding transformations of space. By employing the methodological approach that side-by-side explores two mutually exclusive strategies of analytical and empirical survey, we intend to tackle the question of irreducible antinomies pertinent to architectural research methodologies. Block 23 of the Central Zone of New Belgrade, designed by Branislav Karadžić, Božidar Janković, and Aleksandar Stjepanović (1968), has been widely recognised and aptly studied as one of the highlights of modern urban planning and design, conceived and realised in the period of late socialism in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia). Featuring a notion of a "parallax gap," we presume that the reading of Block 23 through two close yet clearly distinctive perspectives can bring a new scope of knowledge and point to the gap inscribed in the buildings themselves. The first point of view is empirical, centred on the notion of everyday life, and concerns the interpretation and use of space by its inhabitants. The second one is analytical, determined by the work of the architect and architectural theoretician, Branislav Milenković. We start from their point of contact and seek to find a shift in the diverging discursive positions producing a parallax gap. By way of architectural drawing, we explore and theorise new possibilities opened up by the actual buildings: interstitial, intermediary, transitional spaces, and spatial in-betweens. We hope to demonstrate the pursuit of both meticulously planned and dynamically conceived spaces open for the unpredictable was not only a way to respond to specific Yugoslav socio-political realities, but that it fostered the capacity of architecture to accommodate the future population and socioeconomic transformations.
The need to develop the variety of sustainable and cooperative solutions necessary for supporting... more The need to develop the variety of sustainable and cooperative solutions necessary for supporting communities has a weak basis in critiques of previous residential community models and practically non-existent participation. Post-socialist structures usually respond by strengthening local government cooperating with globally oriented organizations, but the idea of overcoming the sacred role of central government has usually proven to be an illusion, and centralization of power seems inevitable. Participation is no longer a matter of ideology but of the free market; however local authorities can assume the role of mediator between the specific interests of individuals and the institutional frameworks of investors. Simulation of participation can have an educational role for both sides if it is conducted gradually in a contextually appropriate manner. The case study presented in this paper includes a three-year project between an EU-sponsored program and municipalities in several coun...
Planning Perspectives, 2019
ABSTRACT This article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban ... more ABSTRACT This article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban renewal programme in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) in the 1980s. We argue that these typologies were tested against the socialist-modernist model of mass residential construction that had been dominant since the 1960s. Our research identifies the design methodologies employed in the insertion of collective housing typologies into an elite residential quarter of traditionally-planned detached family houses, in the case of high-standard housing project Dedinje II/2 (1979–1986) designed by the architect Zoran Županjevac. The article particularly focuses on local adaptation of the transnational concept of designing spaces of transition between community and privacy. Instrumental in this adaptation, we aim to show, was the educational experience and professional practice critical of radical modernism gained by the architect in the USA, UK and Austria. In particular, we find that the project reflects the transfer of knowledge and experience across cultural, geographic and political contexts. The resulting typologies, we contend, not only represented an example of a pluralist approach to late-socialist architecture but provided models for re-thinking housing in the transition to the market economy of the post-socialist period.
Planning Perspectives Volume 35, Number 6, 2020, 2020
The article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban renewal pr... more The article explores housing models and hybrid typologies advanced as part of an urban renewal programme in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) in the 1980s. We argue that these typologies were tested against the socialistmodernist model of mass residential construction that had been dominant since the 1960s. Our research identifies the design methodologies employed in the insertion of collective housing typologies into an elite residential quarter of traditionally-planned detached family houses, in the case of high standard housing project Dedinje II/2 (1979–1986) designed by the architect Zoran Županjevac. The article particularly focuses on local adaptation of the transnational concept of designing spaces of transition between community and privacy. Instrumental in this adaptation, we aim to show, was the educational experience and professional practice critical of radical modernism gained by the architect in the USA, UK and Austria. In particular, we find that the project reflects the transfer of knowledge and experience across cultural, geographic and political contexts. The resulting typologies, we contend, not only represented an example of a pluralist approach to late-socialist architecture but provided models for re-thinking housing in the transition to the market economy of the post-socialist period.