„Belgrade“ Department stores: setbacks, cahllenges and new perspectives on an old commercial Model

Abstract

Set within the brother context of consumerism culture coming from the West in the 1960s, “Belgrade” department stores model is perceived as partly autonomous creation, a result of a socialist regime of Yugoslavia. This model brings with itself specific morphological characteristics regarding allocation, organization, and design and as such has left a radical and lasting impact on urban space that is the most evident in the transformation of central city areas in small and medium towns across Serbia. The research reflects on those common characteristics and conducts a more detailed analysis of contextual circumstances and challenges that arose in a singular case. Finally, new perspectives were analyzed through actions and projects that are established to find a solution, shed new light and bring back old significance to the department store that they had for society and the city l. The results of this paper come in the form of providing an appropriate perspective on creating a different approach to the old commercial model observed and present in a contemporary context.