This study investigated the nuanced influence of urban morphology on the thermal performance of nine mass housing blocks (21–26, 28–30) in New Belgrade’s Central Zone. These blocks, showcasing diverse structures, provided a robust basis for evaluating the design parameters. ENVI-met simulations were used to assess two scenarios: an “asphalt-only” environment, isolating the urban structure’s impact, and a “real-world” scenario, including green infrastructure (GI). Overall, the findings emphasize that while GI offers mitigation, the inherent urban built structure fundamentally determines thermal outcomes. An urban block’s thermal performance, it turns out, is a complex interplay between morphological factors and local climate. Crucially, simple metrics like Green Area Percentage (GAP) and Building Coverage Ratio (BCR) proved unreliable predictors of thermal performance. This highlights the critical need for urban planning regulations to evolve beyond basic surface indicators and embrace sophisticated, context-sensitive design principles for effective heat mitigation. Optimal performance arises from morphologies that actively manage heat accumulation and facilitate its dissipation, a characteristic exemplified by Block 22’s integrated design. However, even the best-performing Block 22 remains warmer compared to denser central areas, suggesting that urban densification can be a strategy for heat mitigation. Given New Belgrade’s blocks are protected heritage, targeted GI reinforcements remain the only viable approach for improving the outdoor thermal comfort.

An emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected the rethinking of existing healthcare systems. The increased need for hospital beds appeared short after the outbreak of the pandemic and the solution was to adapt the existing buildings, primarily public ones. Among all, sports buildings, i.e. sports halls were successfully used around the globe for conversion into hospitals. Topic of the paper was to investigate whether sports halls in Serbia, which were also used as temporary hospitals, are suitable for conversion in terms of energy consumption needed for achieving thermal comfort. Two case studies were analysed. The energy simulations were done using the DesignBuilder software. The results of thermal comfort summary and energy consumption led to the conclusion that this building type in Serbia could be successfully used for hospital purposes. Although the multiple increase in energy consumption was noted during the heating period, the results were within the limits required by both national and international standards.

This paper proposes a method for evaluation of internal apartment flexibility in multi-family housing with respect to its specific application to contemporary residential architecture of the city of Nis (Southeastern Serbia). The presented method is...

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly reshaped life across the globe, significantly influencing the future of housing. The enactment and densification of diverse activities within one place have resulted in varying degrees of conflict between the built and social environment. This conflict is directly related to the degree of housing adaptability to new life, work, and leisure conditions. Movement restrictions and distance learning have significantly impacted the young population, which is susceptible to ‘enforced togetherness’ conditions. However, studies on post-pandemic housing in Serbia are rare. This paper investigates the relationship between the built and social environment, focusing on current trends in multi-family housing from the perspective of the progressive change of life standards in the post-pandemic era. It also includes a survey of the living conditions of architecture students in Serbia during lockdown and distance learning, offering insights into the impact of the physical environment on virus transmission and social dynamics. The main objective of this study is to formulate guidelines for developing a resilient housing model in Serbia that will address both current and future crises. From the findings, it can be concluded that radical changes in housing policy are necessary to enable less interdependence among layers within the system striving to be resilient.

Covid-19 pandemic brought to surface the new requirements for urban life. These requirements do not only strengthen urban resilience but also improve the overall quality of living. By taking the City of Belgrade as an example, this paper aimed to research whether the multi-residential sector took a new post-pandemic developmental course by embedding specific quality-related spatial features into designed buildings. A set of 33 assessment criteria was introduced to evaluate the quality of projects of ten selected multi-residential buildings. Results point out significant differences among studied cases and the aspects of residential space, however there is an overall need to revise ongoing designing practice.

Since the reduction of energy consumption and efficient energy use, particularly in the building stock, is the priority for contemporary societies, the ways of how to improve the existing buildings should be examined. Flat roofs, as a part of the existing building thermal envelope, are recognized as a field of intervention for improving efficient energy use for space cooling and heating. The topic of the paper is to determine to what extent different improved roof structures affect energy consumption intended to achieve thermal comfort. Comparative analysis of four roof structures was conducted for the building of Healthcare center Niš in Serbia, one improved non-walkable flat roof structure and three green roof systems. Urbancsape extensive green roof system was used in all tested green roof models: non-walkable extensive green roof, walkable extensive green roof, and extensive and intensive green roof systems within walkable terraces. DesignBuilder software was used for energy modeling. The obtained results indicate a slight decrease in energy consumption for building models with green roofs compared to the building model with the improved non-walkable roof structure, along the cooling period, by approximately 1,5%, which is correlated with previous studies in similar conditions. On the other hand, the reduction of energy consumption over the heating period was negligible (less than 1%). Considering the results and predominant usage of commercial Urbanscape extensive green roof system in all green roof models, being characterized by small thickness (10.64 cm) and light structure, and which is predicted to be installed over the already well-insulated roof, the system’s role as an additional thermal mass was confirmed.