Urban Regeneration Policy in Serbia- three case studies from Belgrade

Abstract

This article presents the way of creation of urban and spatial policy in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, as transitional society. This ambience characterizes insufficient normative regulation, weak institutions, small transparency in decision making process, insufficient participation of important professional subjects in big projects, corruption and ad hoc arrangements which seriously favor private and group interests (income, profit) over public interests etc. Text has three case studies: Belgrade Port is an example for misuse of privatization procedure for getting valuable cities` lots and building land cheaply; Resettlement of wild Roma settlements represents ad hoc project which "cleaned" vital city locations without plan, and with jeopardizing elementary human rights of this ethnic group; and ambitions project Belgrade Waterfront (redevelopment of Sava amphitheater) has been created as arrangement between top Serbian leadership and foreign company, without including public and domestic experts and their associations in this project. The most important missing factors are: project justification study, "value for money" analysis, risk matrix, clear share of responsibilities for the risks between partners, and guarantees given by private partner for protection of Belgrade concerning various risks, absence of public competition, as well as absence of monitoring mechanisms for contract implementation.