Cultural and natural heritage as a driver for sustainable landscape development

Abstract

The Roman Limes - a former natural border of the Roman Empire has been recognized as a cultural landscape with exceptional universal values of international importance by UNESCO. In the Republic of Serbia, the Roman Limes encompasses the Danube river valley. Within this part of the Roman Limes, the Djerdap segment, which includes sites of different historical periods, stands out. However, most of the sites are underwater due to the construction of the Hydroelectric Power Plant. Physical inaccessibility to cultural heritage has led to insufficient presentation and promotion, but also a lack of information about its existence. Therefore, the main goals of this paper are to spread knowledge about the existence of the cultural and natural heritage of the Djerdap segment, as well as to identify the potential for their integration into contemporaneity. The results are presented through an urban-architectural project that is the sublimation of formed critical attitudes about the cultural heritage treatments. The expected results of the research include raising awareness of the importance of the cultural and natural heritage of the Djerdap segment through the promotion of cultural routes, as well as forming a potential model for their use in the process of establishing sustainable landscape development.