urban planning

Our experience has shown that people really want to participate in shaping their environment and that when they are timely and accurately informed, they can make rational decisions that are in the interest of the community. 

On the other hand, research and our communication with citizens show that they feel excluded from the planning process, uninformed, that they do not trust the decision-making process, and that cities are shaped according to the wishes of the individual interests of those who have political or economic power. 

Since the founding of the Ministry of Space collective, we have nurtured work with the community and strive to strengthen/support the level of citizen participation in urban planning. We invested a lot of time and knowledge in the "translation" of urban planning, created and distributed a significant number of materials and tools along the way, and here they are in one place!

Where's the plan?

We created a digital platform, so that we could all have an insight into the plans and urban projects in Belgrade, in a way worthy of the 21st century. Here you can find information about plans and projects that were in the process from 2022 onwards. The first filter for the plans is that they are sorted by status, i.e. whether they have been adopted or not. This is important, because we can influence the plans in the development process, by sending objections to the plan proposal. In addition, plans can be searched by type (spatial, general, PGR, detailed), i.e. by stage of development - from the decision on the development of the plan, through public inspections, to adoption. Urban projects are classified according to the stages that the document goes through, which differ from the planning ones and last much shorter. 

We regularly update the platform and introduce new projects and plans, so we suggest you follow it regularly!

How to read plans?

By supporting many local and neighborhood groups in the defense of their neighborhood, we realized that many people are resistant to participating in the development of plans, because they often do not understand them, so they do not feel called to influence them. That's why we decided to create a guide, which makes it easier to read the plan step by step, contains a glossary of terms and procedures that need to be followed. At the end, we also gave examples of objections that are sent during public inspections of the plan. 

We want to emphasize that the remark does not have to be professional, nor professionally written. You need to write what you think, that is, how you think the plan affects your community, the neighborhood or the city as a whole.

However, for those who are not fans of free forms of writing, there is also a form for writing remarks at the end of the guide!

How to defend space?

Sometimes the situation is such that the space has to be defended by direct action. These are the most common situations when the plans have already been adopted, and the citizens were not informed about the intended plans in time and could not submit objections in a timely manner. For all those who are in this fight, we have prepared Space Defense Manual, in which our many years of experience on how to defend space, mobilize allies, find and share information and do everything possible through institutions are collected.

How to involve citizens more in planning

The Annual Report on Citizen Participation in Urban Planning Processes in Belgrade, started in 2021, is a systematic monitoring of the development of urban plans and an assessment of the degree of citizen participation in the territory of Belgrade. 

Due to the lack of systematized data and adequate monitoring tools, this report seeks to illuminate and highlight the key limitations of active citizen participation, offering guidelines for improving transparency and inclusiveness in planning processes.

How to get together

We are here every day for support in all these endeavors, so you can contact us through the Crisis Staff. Through this format, we provide support in all steps of the struggle, from education and organization to institutional response. From our foundation until today, in this way, we have worked with several hundred citizens from all over Serbia. By clicking on the button below, find out a lot more useful and interesting information that will mean a lot to you in the fight for a better neighborhood, area, city and country where we all want to live.

You wonder too!

Our goal is for as many people as possible to learn that they have the same right as the city administration and investors to participate in city planning. That is why in 2020 we started to develop and implement the mechanism of civil assemblies in urban planning. We intend to provide a safe space for discussion between different actors who use, plan and manage a territory (residents of a part of the city, urban planners, experts, local civic initiatives, decision makers, private sector, etc.). All these experiences and knowledge produce different insights, sometimes conflicting, in relation to a certain space, and through it mini civil assemblies the aspiration directed towards the joint finding of solutions that best suit the local community, that is, the public interest of citizens. 

Although the current situation in the field of urban planning is far from ideal and it seems that the fight against investor urbanism and competent institutions is unsuccessful, it is still worth fighting! 

Therefore, our ultimate goal is to encourage and encourage as many citizens as possible to join together, share their experiences and jointly successfully solve problems in their neighborhood, and even in the city. The fight for a city that prevents the excessive construction of residential and commercial buildings and parking lots at the expense of greenery, the felling of tree lines, illegal construction and non-responsiveness of competent institutions, can only be successful with the united forces and persistence of citizens.