- Implosive Sprawl: Belgrade Case Study   576 kb by    Djokic, Jasmina & Graovac, Ana | ana.graovac@urbel.com    Short Outline This paper analyzes aspects of possible implosive sprawl, which happens inside the existing City boundary - “transfusion” of FAR, missing in realization for public spaces, usurpation of riverbanks and woodlands and inadequate planning solutions. Abstract During 1970 and 1980' Belgrade faced the problem of generation of large urban tissue extensions with insufficient communal and traffic supply and poor social infrastructure for the first time, all caused by very strict and irresponsive planning practice. Though the phenomenon was not recognized as sprawl, but pointed out as irregular building, its characteristics were typical for sprawl: low density, single use, devastation of agricultural land, inefficient infrastructure. Nowadays, another type of badly balanced developing, devastation of green and public space areas takes place. Opposite to sprawl as usually understood and to previous extended growth, this phase is taking place inside the existing City boundary. The problem is recognized primarily as building occupation of great areas of public land that already exists (woods, river banks), previously planned (infrastructural corridors, strategic points) or needed to be planned (vast undeveloped areas near Sava and Danube River). This paper analyzes aspects of possible implosive sprawl, which devastates and degrades achieved urban quality of life. Focus is put on inadequate realization of urban plans such as “transfusion” of FAR, missing in realization for open public spaces, facilities and minimal spatial standard for social care and education, as well as erosion and usurpation of existing public areas and inadequate planning solutions for city development strategy. In the first part of the paper, the possibility for considering ongoing phenomenon in Belgrade as sprawl shall be discussed on theoretical basis. Proofs pro and contra shall be presented. In the second part, this theoretical framework will be compared with particular processes in Belgrade, and finally, in the third part, the conclusions on possibilities of their controlling and redirecting in order to achieve better quality of life shall follow. Key words: sprawl, implosion, devastation, public land, density, green areas, infrastructure corridors Keywords sprawl, implosion, devastation, public land, density, green areas, infrastructure corridors Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2008: Urban Growth without Sprawl   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper