A letter from the Balkans...

Exhibition of aerial photography – Kalemegdan (fortress and park)

I am spending a research year and sabbatical in Belgrade, Serbia, Southeast Europe, under sponsorship of IREX and Fulbright. Belgrade is a gold mine of urban issues (read “problems”), but is also charming and unique in its own chaotic, somewhat untamed and polluted ways. In line with my two-track interests, I am studying the seeds of Serbian spatial data infrastructure (on the information technology track) and the evolution of planning legislation (on the planning practice track).

A view from my apartment window

By late summer and early fall I had settled in and established contacts with two main institutional affiliates: the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism of Serbia (IAUS) and the Department of Spatial Planning at the Faculty of Geography (University of Belgrade). I have started to follow the main events and issues with regard to planning and urban development in Belgrade. Thus far I have encountered a diversity of challenging and complex projects, some of them of vital importance to the future functioning of Belgrade as a major population center (of about 2 million people) where most of the economic, cultural and political activities of Serbia are concentrated. Some of these projects include:

• Infrastructure projects funded from the National Investment Plan and European Union sources, mainly pertaining to the reconstruction of major bridges and internal and external ring roads; there are debates with respect to the conceptualization of those projects, selection of routes, environmental impact, and implementation (one of the controversial proposed inner ring trajectories runs next to my building and has raised complaints from the local community);
• Ongoing discussions with regard to the main public transport options for Belgrade – light rail vs. metro, including the issue of re-locating the main railway station;
• Continuous plan making activity, focused on the updates of the 2003 Master Plan (Belgrade 2021) and current work on the city’s strategy;
• Restitution of private property nationalized after the Second World War by the communist government;
• Illegal construction or misuse and adaptation of laws to benefit private initiatives, with politics and corruption underlying those activities;
• Attempts to modernize the country’s and city’s information base with Digital Cadastre (partially funded by the World Bank) and E-government initiatives;
• Efforts to revise the 2003 Law on Planning and Construction by a consulting group from Vienna; continued controversy with respect to planning legislation.

Pedestrian zone (Knez Mihajlova Street)

My impression is that Belgrade offers a wealth of material that is fascinating to explore and share with other countries and cities and that is also rich in potential contributions to the social sciences. The experiences are unique, yet relevant and useful to learn about, given the many challenges that the country and its urban environments have gone through and will face in the future. Against many obstacles of an economic, social, cultural, and political nature, one encounters here an extraordinary creativity and effort to advance the quality of life and functionality of a dense urban environment.

Since I left the U.S. in July, I have participated in and attended numerous events, including the following:

Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering: Institute of Architecture and Urbanism of Serbia (IAUS) located here

I have also done some traveling, both locally and internationally. In addition to attending the AESOP conference in Italy, I went to the Netherlands for a doctoral dissertation final exam, made two short private trips to Egypt (in August) and India (in October), and visited mountain Tara’s nature park Mecavnik and ethno village Drvengrad (“Wood City”) constructed and owned by a renowned film director Emir Kusturica (check out “Underground” and many others of his superb movies) and located in southwest Serbia. I am also spending a lot of time traveling (i.e., driving) in town – trying to master the zen of not reacting to Balkan macho drivers and perfecting my parallel parking skills (I managed once while talking on my mobile phone – I was so proud of myself). I must report that, although the traffic has worsened, parking in Belgrade has improved. It is much more regulated, with three differently priced zones (red, orange and green), and the payment for most street parking is handled by mobile phones. I do not want to talk about politics – not much change there -- always dynamic and tense.

Pekara (bakery) in Cyrillic alphabet

Otherwise, activities here abound – most of them I do not make due to my “soccer” mom and research responsibilities, but a few I managed to work in my schedule. Just the list of the concerts of popular music alone is impressive: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Brian Ferry, Rihanna, Paco de Lucia, Pink Martini, upcoming Mark Knopfler, and others including a rich local scene; exhibitions (see the upcoming first showing of a Modigliani painting, festivals, international sport events (including Davis Cup match Serbia – Australia), theatres, fairs (just finished Book Fair), and much more. Check out the photo gallery – touristy, though. A few of my photos are also enclosed. They were taken in summer and (fortunately) do not reveal the gloom and mud of the late fall and winter that is settling in now.

A shopper in front of a local mini-mart

Familywise, I am glad to report that Vuk has fully adjusted to life here and enjoys it a lot. He goes to an excellent school, has really nice classmates and a wonderful teacher -- who have all made his experience very positive. He goes to birthday parties at least once a month (and these are some parties!) and plays tennis and soccer while I am driving him around (so I feel at “home” wherever that is). He is doing well in school, but has to work extra hard, on math in particular. He writes in the Cyrillic alphabet and speaks Serbian fluently, except for some occasional gaffs that tend to generate laughs (e.g., addressing his teacher with “ti,” an informal “you,” instead of “vi” which is a formal one). Stefan has just finalized his first semester of political science at UIUC and is heading over here in a couple of days. Vuk and I cannot wait to see him – we miss him a lot. Obrad visited in October and will probably be coming one more time in the spring.

An artist's rendering of Belgrade

I am currently working on papers for IAUS’ scientific meeting Sustainable Spatial Development of Cities in Serbia, Belgrade, upcoming in January 2008 and for the Second Symposium of the International Academic Forum on Planning, Law, and Property Rights to take place in February 2008 in Warsaw, Poland. Also, I am busy preparing for the holidays with family and friends and that is a serious business here.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!

Zorica Nedović-Budić