The split into "nature" and "culture" has lasted for centuries in Western civilization and remains the framework through which we consider various important problems of contemporary society. In the last decades of the twentieth century there has been a clear reaction to this dichotomy, first in a geography discourse then elsewhere, and a move towards studying the construction and representation of nature in cultural history. A very important feature in the approach to design for recovering contemporary urban landscape is urban greenery regeneration as well as the study of the urban greenery past. The broader historical context of our study is the establishment of new capitalist relations towards urban territory in nineteenth century Belgrade, and with it a new distribution of political and economic power. This process led to the disappearance of the main green spaces in the city and the suppression of the memory they carried. The reconstruction of Belgrade's historic core was implemented according to Emilijan Josimović's urban plan (1867). Nevertheless, it contained some very important indications of ecological thinking. In order to elaborate a refined approach to environmental and cultural problems that Belgrade, like other cities, faces today, we bring to light and critically examine those features and aspects of Josimović's plan that established organic relations and balance between nature, culture, city memory and city development.
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.
Abstract: 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 is an expanded version of the paper presented at the conference Landscape Futures UNISCAPE Conference 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 19–21 2017.