This paper describes five examples of mapping and enumerating poor informal Roma settlements in Serbia, implemented in the last decade by non-governmental organizations and Roma associations as a prelude to different upgrading projects. Their contexts, processes and outcomes are discussed and their common patterns and approaches are summarized. The characteristics and types of Roma settlements are described within the framework of the Roma’s poverty and social exclusion and the lack of adequate responses by national and local authorities to the difficult housing situation in Roma settlements. This paper considers ways of overcoming the gap between the need for reliable mapping and enumeration data and the actual situation, where informal Roma settlements are neither put on official maps in Serbia nor included in formal records, unlike other city areas.

This study addressed problems related to the protection, reconstruction, and revitalisation of modern heritage, particularly the regeneration of mass housing estates built after WWII and facing the contemporary perils of urban decay and deterioration. It presented interdisciplinary research investigating the possibility of extending and complementing the heritage assessment methodology and broadening the scope of the criteria by including mass housing landscape values. Starting with a close reading of the key theoretical positions embedded in the conceptualisation and construction of New Belgrade, we investigated a set of holistic and time-based criteria, followed by contemporary methodologies for landscape quality assessment. The investigation was based on an urban landscape approach to heritage assessment and focuses on the Central Zone of New Belgrade, declared a heritage site in 2021. The interaction of the theoretical underpinnings of modern architecture and urban planning with urban landscape discourse, coupled with historically and theoretically relevant knowledge and data, resulted in an investigation of landscape-based criteria for further mass housing assessment. Finally, we presented the findings of the landscape quality assessment of the transformations of the Central Zone. This perspective could be used to extend the possibilities of this approach in order to (1) tackle the “thickness” of temporality related to (urban) landscapes; (2) rethink and redefine the applied heritage assessment approach; (3) open the assessment procedure to a wider range of stakeholders, particularly nonexperts and the local community; and (4) re-actualise the position and role of experts in the sense of communicating knowledge in a completely new context.

This article aims to underline the necessity of including historical enquiry in reaching the complex goals of sustainable development of urban riverscapes. Its proposed method is a survey conducted through selection, interpretation and systematization of the relevant historical data that consider the Belgrade cityscape, and specifically, the New Belgrade public spaces at the river confluence. The theoretical framework, which relies on the concepts of ‘landscape urbanism’ and ‘critical practice of landscape architecture’, has affected the selection and interpretation of dense historical layers of modernization, formed in diverse socio-economic and political conditions. We have distinguished five historical strata that contribute significantly to comprehension of the present state. By looking at the traces of the formative period of Belgrade urban landscape, the moments of New Belgrade’s inception, inerasable impacts of war, vigorous post WWII socialist transformation and, finally, the series of Danube riverscape revisions, we intend to depict the complexity of the modern city legacy and thus stress the interconnectedness of past and future endeavours. As a counterpoint to globalizing tendencies in re-designing city riverfronts, this work is conceived as a lateral contribution to a broader investigation that informs, supports and constitutes more ecologically viable practices.

This article describes a squatter settlement that arose in Belgrade between the two world wars and the communities that lived in it and fought for their right to housing. At the end of the war in 1918, a completely new phenomenon appeared in Belgrade—the squatter settlement. Jatagan-mala was the largest and best known among them. It is used as a case in point to analyze the municipal authorities’ attitude toward squatter settlements and their residents. It is shown how Belgrade Municipality threatened to demolish Jatagan-mala and then partially tore it down, and how it dealt with those who, as a result, were left without a roof over their head. The article also describes the residents’ battle not to lose their homes. Organized and strong in the beginning, over time, their efforts flagged, and in the end, they haggled over monetary compensation for their demolished homes.

Belgrade's connection by railway with the West firmed up European influences. In the first half of the 20th century and especially between the two world wars, railways expanded to the point of becoming an obstacle to the development of the city. The paper analyses the interwar plans and projects for the development of railway network in Belgrade and the behaviour of the actors responsible for putting them in place. It outlines the process of building Belgrade railway junction and its impact on the city's riverside, notably the area of Bara Venecija and Savamala, currently also called Belgrade Waterfront. It looks at how the unplanned construction of railways and railway facilities caused a number of still-lingering problems in developing the city's riverside.

This paper studies land cover changes of Belgrade over the past three centuries. For this purpose we applied an interdisciplinary approach by integrating historical and landscape ecological perspectives. We have produced four reconstruction maps presenting land cover at the turn of the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, based on historical maps and written sources. The conversion of the land cover from historical maps was done based on CORINE Land Cover level 3, while Land Cover level 1 was used for displaying on the reconstruction maps. This allowed us to compare the changes that occurred from the turn of one century to the next. It has been determined that the land cover of Belgrade has transformed from dominantly semi-natural in the 18th century, to agricultural in the 19th century, and artificial in the 20th century. We have determined that the driving forces of the land cover changes were activities that were part of the political agendas of various states that governed Belgrade. The present analysis bridges the gap in the relevant literature on the land cover changes in Belgrade in the long-term, and provides qualitative and quantitative results relevant for research-based management actions, planning processes and restoration ecology.