An adequate and sustainable site is of crucial importance for the success of a social housing project, because it directly affects the ability to meet the specific housing needs of the target tenants and their social integration into the local community. Applying sustainability criteria in the urban planning of the residual type of social housing in Serbia could prevent additional social exclusion of disadvantaged users, and enable the creation of viable instead of deprived neighborhoods. The aim of this study was to formulate sustainability criteria in identifying sites for social housing, and to evaluate the existing Serbian practice based on a defined multi-criteria model. The key research methods included the identification, systematization, and interpretation of relevant general and specific criteria through a literature review, and a case study in which multi-criteria analysis and a resident satisfaction survey were used. The findings highlight the uneven application of sustainability criteria in past practices and emphasize the need for a more comprehensive and consistent approach. The proposed set of criteria and experience-based guidelines provide a contribution to the still-evolving methodology for the urban planning of social housing in Serbia, which could be adapted to related housing systems in the early stages of development.

Despite the absence of a defined social housing system, several programs of social housing, mainly including the organization of public architecture and urban planning competitions, have been implemented over the last decade in Serbia. This paper presents the competition practice in the field of social and non-profit housing, realized by the City of Belgrade and through Association of Belgrade Architects (DAB) in the period from 2003 to 2014, with special emphasis on the best placed and realized designs. The analysis of the results and the quality of the current design and construction practice aims to improve the knowledge about the complex issue of social housing, identifying local specificities and limitations, as well as the potentials and applicability of the winning designs. The importance of the institution of public architecture and urban planning competition in promoting sustainable and innovative social housing is pointed out in the concluding considerations.

Informal development is a specific form of urban sprawl and one of the main challenges for the sustainable development of major cities in Serbia. In this paper we examine this phenomenon with regard to the influence of spatial and urban vulnerabilities of the informal settlements on the housing and environmental deprivation, especially in the context of inhabitants? vulnerability to fuel poverty. The empirical research was carried out on the example of Belgrade?s suburban settlement Kaludjerica. The statistical analysis of the results has shown that the observed energy characteristics of housing have no relevant influence on households? financial burden of energy expenditure, but that they considerably influence households? perception on thermal comfort. The relation between a limited access to public services and the lack of amenities in the settlement and noted high household expenditure on transport has proved to be a particularly important indicator. Based on the perception on overall life commodities, a poor quality of the environment has been recognized as a key factor of deprivation related to housing.

This paper presents the results of an empirical study examining residents’ perceptions of contemporary dwellings in Serbia, with a focus on spatial organization, comfort, and everyday usability. An online survey conducted in October 2025 was structured into four thematic sections: demographic characteristics, dwelling attributes, housing quality assessment, and subjective spatial experience. The study is based on the hypothesis that apartments built during the socialist period are perceived as spatially and functionally superior to recently constructed housing. The results indicate a pronounced user preference for dwellings built between 1975 and 1990, particularly in terms of functional layout, kitchen daylighting, storage capacity, and spatial adaptability, despite their technical obsolescence and lower energy performance. By highlighting the relationship between spatial characteristics and user satisfaction, the findings contribute to a better understanding of everyday housing experience and provide a basis for informing architectural design and housing policy grounded in user needs rather than exclusively market- or norm-driven criteria.

The basic research problem is the insufficient application of sustainability criteria in urban and architectural programs and projects for social housing in post-socialist Serbia, which may lead to inadequate and low-quality new housing stock. This paper emphasizes the importance of considering social, economic and environmental sustainability aspects integrally in the further development of the existing, highly residual social housing model, with a focus on improving guidelines, rules and parameters in the design domain. Relevant criteria in the architectural and urban design of sustainable social housing were identified, systematized and interpreted, based on the analysis of scientific knowledge, applicable models and international recommendations. A conceptual multicriteria framework was designed with the aim of contributing to the improvement of methodological approaches in the design and evaluation of social housing settlements and buildings in Serbia, as well as in related housing systems.

Alignment with the sustainable development paradigm is a major challenge to the contemporary practice of social housing, especially in economically underdeveloped areas, because of the gap between the limited financing conditions and the demanding criteria of sustainable design and construction. Environmental problems such as climate change are creating further pressure on this housing sector. Higher vulnerability of social tenants to the negative effects of changing climate and rising energy prices, besides marginalization and the lack of resources, is being greatly affected by the energy inefficient and non adaptive housing. An important task for directing future practice of social housing is searching for innovative housing solutions, which will meet the complex criteria of sustainable and climate aware architecture, in affordable and efficient way. The authors found that one of the possible answers to these challenges is reaffirmation of modular design and construction, through more creative and more efficient use of their adaptive capacity. The potential role of modularity in creating sustainable and climate aware social housing models is analyzed through the aspects of prefabrication, transformability, flexibility and diversity, and according to the form and the degree of their fulfillment, modular systems are defined as dynamic or static. The authors' view is that the dynamic systems, based on new methods of light prefabricated construction, have a great potential of sustainability and climate adaptability, and that they deserve more attention of professional public, as well as wider and more intensive practical use.