Medieval fortresses represent an important tangible heritage of a nation’s culture and a valuable development asset for a particular destination on which its place-branding strategy for tourism could be built upon. Traditionally in Serbia, heritage protection and conservation have been mainly concentrated on the tangible aspects of cultural sites and monuments. Nevertheless, with the advent of urban heritage integration in the local sustainable development processes and place-branding strategies, a greater appreciation of the spirit of the place and its intangible components, as well as the need to adapt it to local contexts with more participatory forms of heritage planning, have started to emerge. A wide range of stakeholders brought the involvement and participation of both the local government and community members, including residents, as an indispensable element of the protection actions and broader urban development policies. The paper aims to validate the correlation between both intangible and tangible cultural heritage and its contemporary use for place branding and tourism development. In doing so, we have employed the case study method on the two fortresses on the Danube in Serbia to show the ways in which local stakeholders have mobilized their forces in cooperation with the university to use their cultural heritage assets for tourism and more extensive sustainable territorial development. We have found that despite new inclusive forms of governance, which is attracting the attention of planning and heritage practitioners in Serbia, the contemporary approach of integrative protection and the intangible aspects of cultural heritage are still not fully utilized. For this reason, in this study, we consider methods based on environmental aesthetics approaches to cultural heritage that point out the significant inclusion of immaterial intangible cultural heritage in an unbreakable bond with material tangible heritage. The most remarkable result of our research is that while a vast number of stakeholders with local knowledge and sense of the spirit of the place have been involved in the planning process, intangible aspects of the analyzed heritage cases are present in educational projects, and are only partially present if it comes to implementation. This clearly demonstrates that the focus on tangible aspects and spatial interventions of the place branding of cultural heritage is still dominant in Serbia, despite acknowledgment of the economic and social aspects of sustainability in the planning phase in educational projects.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of strategic planning as a sustainable tool for regulating both the protection and development of historic urban landscapes, as well as developing an adequate and effective strategic model and management instruments for implementation. The role and importance of strategic planning are examined in the context of global transformative actions in the urban governance of community and private sector engagement and sustainable development on the local level. We argue that a specific—tailor-made—integrated strategic urban planning approach could be a useful model, both for development and urban regeneration and for the preservation of protected valuable historic urban landscapes, thus contributing to a sustainable urban revival of wider surrounding territories including cultural, social and economic development. We stand on the position that the sustainable approach to the protection and revitalization of the historic urban landscapes has to be in line with the acknowledgment of specific local community values, contemporary needs, their involvement, and, eventually, their satisfaction. The case study method was based on the example of a protected historic center of Novi Pazar in Serbia to test the possibilities of applying strategic planning model and management for the implementation tailored to the local context. Eventually, the scenario method was applied to test the possibilities of a simulation of the strategic planning model and management instruments for a protected historic center. We found that the appropriate combination and utilization of regulatory, economic and informational management instruments have to be in place in the specific context. We conclude and draw out theoretical and practical remarks from our research that integrated strategic urban planning model should consider the logic and the functioning of the competitive real estate markets, and the sustainable environmental, economic and social effects, potentials and benefits for the locality where they originate, in order to be utilized as the new generative value both for the protection and for the revival of historic city centers. The paper develops a conceptual strategic planning and management model for the regeneration of historic urban landscapes that capture the physical, environmental, economic, and social effects and indicators of a given space. Based on this input, an adequate initial stage of the conceptual strategy by the authors of the paper was developed for the regeneration of the historic urban city center.

Using heritage as a cultural artifact in city development is not new, but little has been explored about how urban heritage can be utilized as new generative value and a new planning instrument for the revival of cities. The purpose of this paper is to show the creative and the generative use of urban heritage, both for the extension of cultural and tourist offer of the city and for the improvement of the quality of life in physical, social and economic terms for the community. The case study method was used for the adaptive reuse of projects for heritage buildings and urban revival in Kikinda. We argue that urban heritage has to be used, bearing in mind its spatial, economic and social sustainability aspects, and become a generator of urban revival. We go beyond recognition of the value of heritage as a cultural artifact that should solely be preserved and used as a static element in urban development, and view it more as a dynamic asset for city revival processes. We found that for the heritage nodes to be utilized as the new generative value for the revival of cities, they have to be perceived from the network perspective, thus influencing the urban environment in a sustainable way.

Entrepreneurial urban governments around the world use large-scale projects for promoting cities as a place for enhanced quality of life and attracting investment from an international level. However, large urban projects frequently challenge democratic planning and public interest, and break up conventional city planning models. We argue that the changed city government?s entrepreneurial role calls for reframing the public interest, taking into consideration both global private interests and sustainable impacts and benefits for varieties of local public interests. The paper presents the case of Belgrade Waterfront Project. Results show an efficient entrepreneurial direction of the Serbian national government, contrary to the worldwide experiences where urban governments take the lead. Still, it is questionable whether the outcomes will be just and fair, especially when it comes to "winners" and "losers". We place equity at the top of agenda for public officials and planners in the implementation of large-scale projects. Therefore, we believe there are varieties of public interests on various spatial levels, defined by politicians, explored by planning experts?, and accepted by the citizens for obtaining broader social support.

The growing perception of heritage as a public commodity encourages rural communities to recognize their natural and cultural heritage as a potential for tourism development. This creates the need for an appropriate presentation of heritage sites that ensures that their cultural and natural assets are appreciated and protected. “Negotinske pivnice” are cultural heritage sites in Serbia, nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List. They are architectural complexes of wine cellars in rural region with a long tradition in wine production and industry and are unique in terms of their settlement structure. This emphasizes the spatial dimension of their interpretation and presentation, and highlights the importance of urban design for their sustainable use for tourism. Based on understanding urban design both as a process and a product, and cultural heritage site as a place, we argue that participatory urban design contributes to appropriate heritage presentation by widening design knowledge base to include local communities’ lay knowledge. Following the case study methodology, we explored the relationships between participatory process, the knowledge gained, and urban design solutions for presentation of cultural heritage sites as living places in “Wine Cellars of Negotin Participatory Urban Design” project. The research reveals that the wider knowledge base affects urban design at both strategic and project levels and sets the grounds for diverse presentation forms through which harmonization of heritage protection and touristic presentation is possible.

The influence of place branding in urban development has more importance than ever. Nevertheless, little attention is given to how place branding strategies are interrelated with planning, especially in post-socialist urban development. The purpose of this paper is to critically explore experimental educational projects conducted through cooperation between academia and local governments in Serbia, perceived as a simulation of strategic planning and place branding. We argue that educational projects hold power to create additional value in place and contribute to place branding by using a variety of planning and design instruments as a means of transformative spatial and social change both for communities and students as future planners. This paper uses theoretical exploration to develop reflective structural elements and a set of criteria essential to interlink strategic planning and place branding, thus providing a unique apparatus for the evaluation of educational projects. By emphasizing the possibilities and limitations of educational projects, the paper contributes to the theoretical advancement of place branding and strategic planning interlink and sheds light on the effects that those projects may have on spatial development and governance of the territory.