Planning and land policy tools for limiting urban sprawl: The example of Belgrade (original) (raw)
Related papers
Some guidelines on limiting urban sprawl
Forms of urban growth in South-Eastern Europe: transitioning towards urban resilience and sustainability. Volume 2, 2016
A brief review of the Serbian legal and regulatory framework (spatial regulations and planning instruments) related to urban growth/sprawl and the land market applied to Belgrade-S.
Habitat International, 2015
Over the last three decades, Serbia has moved from a mixed centrally planned – deliberative – self-governing economy to a market-based economy, but key institutional reforms are still not complete. Based on the contextual framework of post-socialist countries and theoretical background, this research focuses on the interaction between spatial regularization and existing planning instruments versus urban land market and land-use policy, and their impact on urban expansion in the Belgrade metropolitan area (BMA). The intention is to clarify the implications of urban land use policies and their (im) balance with planning instruments and the land market. The contextual framework of post-socialist Serbia, the transformation of its urban land policy as well as the land development management in the BMA illustrate complexities of spatial regularization, further emphasized by the delay in introducing and adopting new urban land policy. Key findings include: extremely inefficient urban land use and excessive urban sprawl (in the last two decades the urban area has tripled; with high urban land consumption of 670 m2 per capita compared to other metropolitan cities); and important role of urban land policy (existing, still untransformed instruments contribute to urban sprawl).
Land construction and urban development policy in Serbia: impact of key contextual factors
2018
The aim of this paper is to provide a systematized overview of urban land policy in Serbia, primarily regarding the impact of key contextual factors (historical, institutional, legal, etc.). Various historical and developmental contexts have caused regulation changes concerning construction land and its impact on the urban development in Serbia from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 1990s. The analysis starts with an overview of the theoretical background of urban development policy and land regulation, followed by a brief reflection on the impact of key historical and legislative factors focused on the post-socialist period. The analysis of the urban land policy in the post-socialist period includes: key legislation; ownership status of construction land and property rights; conversion of ownership status; general policy instruments; key urban land management issues in Serbian cities; and a preliminary evaluation of the implementation effects of the existing urban land system in Serbia. Several research methods have been applied here, viz., the conceptual benchmarking framework for the dominant legal doctrine; a general qualitative analysis of the contemporary context; institutional and comparative analyses, etc. Although the former socialist concept of the welfare state has been transformed into a neoliberal concept in a short period, there is an evident delay in the reforms of the Serbian urban land policy. The paper presents numerous findings regarding the impact of the current system and practice on the general urban land policy in Serbia, while also focusing on the concomitant developments in the Belgrade Area. The paper concludes with the recommendations regarding the harmonisation and innovation of urban land policy and urban development policy in Serbia in the post-socialist era.
Suburbanization and sprawl in post-socialist Belgrade and Sofia
European Planning Studies
Like most European cities, cities in Southeast Europe (SEE) have been growing throughout the 20th century, however, after the end of the 1980s, the mechanisms of urban growth and expansion have changed radically: from development fully determined by central planning to market-led urban development. This paper examines how planning in large SEE cities is coping with the challenge to balance the action of the market and achieve planning goals relating to the form of urban growth and expansion. As case studies we analyse the master plans of Sofia and Belgrade and their implementation. We have two research questions: first, whether planning in the two cities has considered the role of the market when defining its objectives, measures and solutions regarding the forms of urban growth and the development of in suburban areas, and, second, whether planning has been able to influence the market or cooperate with it in order to achieve its objectives in suburban development.
Reform Framework for Urban Land Management in Serbia in the Period of Transition
2009
A preliminary evaluation of the urban land system is presented in the article together with the instruments of land policy in Serbia. The main reason for the analysis is demand for definition of reform framework for urban land management in Serbia in the period of transition towards market-led system. It is concluded that due to the limitations of the current regulation it will be impossible in the future to apply market principles in the urban land policy (supply and demand of land, land capitalization, investment efficiency, et al.). Based on the estimation that the urban land system and land policy are key factors of competitiveness between regions and towns in Serbia, it is necessary to initiate changes in this field. There are indicated on an option of privatization of urban public land and possible establishment of leasehold land. A comparative analysis of the possibilities of the reform urban land system in Serbia has been carried out in relation to two approaches of market s...
Evaluation of the current urban land system in Serbia
Spatium, 2008
A preliminary evaluation of the current urban land system is presented in the article together with the instruments of land policy in Serbia. It is concluded that due to the limitations of the current regulation it will be impossible in the future to apply market principles in the urban land policy (supply and demand of land, land capitalization, investment efficiency, et al.). Based on the estimation that the urban land system and land policy are key factors of competitiveness between regions and towns in Serbia, it is necessary to initiate changes in this field. A comparative analysis of the elements of the current urban land system in Serbia has been carried out in relation to two market systems: (a) with dominant private ownership of urban land (neoliberal approach) and (b) with dominant public ownership of urban land (Scandinavian approach) whose findings can be a basis for further study of the new system in Serbia. .
Balkan Cities’ Development Patterns and Planning Challenges – The Case Of Belgrade
The development patterns of capital cities in the Balkans at the end of the 20 th and the beginning of the 21 st century serve as a base for the analyses of planning in the new era of urbanization. The capitals of the newly established, post-Yugoslav states are still overcoming the consequences of the national, political, and economic shift from the centralized to liberal market economy. At the same time, they are affected by the global processes of continuous change, crisis, and uncertainty. Since the '80s, traditional comprehensive planning has shown to be inert. However, it is still common in most of the Balkan states despite the significant social and economic changes and the investors', governmental, and public discontent and criticism. There are several arguments to challenge the planning and management of these cities. The international market has been offering commercial development projects with iconic high-rises, metaphorically representing liberal economy and the Western type of city shapes and identities, and the City officials have experienced intense pressure by developers after the 2008 world economic crisis. For not being grounded in the analyses of the local market demands or long-term city plans, these ambitious proposals have been critically questioned by the public, administration, and professionals. Another type of development resulted from the urge to empower and promote the national identity, thus producing a non-contextual, historically-driven urban and architectural design. The third and the most common regional pattern appeared as a result of transitional societies lacking urban and housing policies, and land management instruments: informal settlements have rapidly risen in the whole region, shaping even the capital cities inconsistently, lowering living standards, and producing visible social and urban divide. The research question is, how should traditional Balkan cities adapt their planning practices to different development scenarios in the economically limited and socially fragile urban environment? Therefore, the challenge for the authorities and planners in the Balkan cities is to come up with appropriate planning models that include extensive collaboration of all actors in finding a sustainable development procedure, hopefully following the internationally accepted principles.
Urban Sprawl and the Challenges for Urban Planning
Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012
Dispersed urbanization, urban planning and management instruments such as zoning, and urban expansion zones, have become increasingly consistent in leading cities toward an uncertain and chaotic future. The urban perimeters of municipalities have been used increasingly in favor agents of the reproduction of unequal urban space, aggravating the process of socio-spatial segregation, the formation of urban gaps and real estate speculation. Inherent to this process, infrastructure, one of the most important components of urban land and one of the most costly for local governments, has become increasingly dispersed and obsolete in the midst of the disordered occupation of the city's land. Based on the above, this paper aims to analyze the phenomenon of urban sprawl in the city of Londrina by means of geotechnologies and to identify the impacts that the form of land occupation the city has employed may cause on the current and future scenario of the municipality in general. To this end, thematic maps were drawn up from multiple sources, which, allied to a review of the literature, indicate that the municipality of Londrina exhibits intense characteristics of the phenomenon of urban sprawl, leading to consequences for territorial ordering and the egalitarian spatial distribution of essential services to the population.