Cross-border urban design for local people

Abstract

In the context of intercultural and cross-border cooperation, this study presents the implementation of the project of redesigning the Square of Orthodoxy (Trg Pravoslavlja) in Derventa, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methodologically speaking, this study is divided into two parts: the first refers to the strategy of the design approach in view of actualizing the unity of differences through public urban space, and the second part that refers to the specific limitations of designers working in another country. The reflections and arguments in this study are based on dialectics and are epistemologically informed by the intersections of architecture, theology, art, and politics. The study examines the understanding of the past and the present in order to answer the question What could this be? The study examines the limitations and opportunities in the process of realization of this project with the main emphasis on the following: first, the relationship between different stakeholders (local municipality, local church, local engineers and the design team from Belgrade, Serbia); second, understanding and interpretation of the local urban culture, ethnic and religious interactions in post-war Bosnia between Serbs, Bosnians and Croats, and third, understanding religious and local customs and traditions. Consequently, the basic idea in planning the Square of Orthodoxy in Derventa is guided by the collective memory of the place in terms of reminiscences of the past, when it was a place of encounters and community, as well as by the appreciation of the place, the need for religious service of Serbian Orthodox Church, and the acceptance and implementation of contemporary design practices in the regulation of public spaces.