- Can new Developments and City Identity grow in Harmony? Searching for the new and successful public Space Design in Belgrade   628 kb by    Gligorijevic, Zaklina | zaklina.gligorijevic@urbel.com    Short Outline The social component of public space design is important for the harmonization of diverse interests within the city. For the cities in transition, it should be equally attractive for developers and for disintegrated society to participate in public life. Only that way, cities can save and improve their specific identity. Abstract The design of the public space, the urban designers’ public realm improvement tool, should help harmonize interests of various social, religious, national groups, all parts of a diverse contemporary city population. For the cities in transition, such as Belgrade, design of the public space is one of the instruments to attract developers, and a chance to offer an equal opportunity for disintegrated society to become an active part in public life of The City. Belgrade’s rough history and its unique urban culture is the important part of the city identity, being a winning force in previous years of sanctions, poverty, war and political battles. It is a privilege and the burden for local leaders, as well as a challenge for planners and designers in competition for global development market. Nevertheless, historic institutions are trying to save the urban development “path” inherited from the pre-transitional progressive period. The New Belgrade city core, the key study of this research, is the target for European real estate developers, the Serbian pride of non-deserted European social housing sites, the living monument of Le Courbisier’s implemented city model, and the biggest construction site in modern Serbia. The historic axe of New Belgrade is nowadays a subject to city decision makers, urban planners and designers, as well as NGOs, in saving city identity. As a reaction to the pressure of the developers, the city officials initiated the regulation plan and the urban design competition on future functional, social and aesthetic components of public space, as a part of the future development. The importance of the site and the topic itself overgrew the local level. It is nowadays a global issue and the New Belgrade municipality is seeking for the clue and the modern urban icon for their most important, integrative public space. Keywords Culture, Identity, Public Space, Urban Design Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2006: Cities between Integration and Disintegration   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper