The consequences of urban policies in socialist Yugoslavia on the transformation of historic centres: the case study of cities in Northern Serbia

Abstract

The socialist and the post-socialist paradigms of urban development are usually described by scholars as radically opposing. However, the cities in the socialist ex-Yugoslavia (1945-1992) present a different development model, defined by the unique position of the country during the Cold War. Balancing between two main ideological blocs, ex-Yugoslavia adopted the values of the non-aligned movement, simultaneously acting as a stage for the cooperation and exchange of professionals. The distinctive combination of socialist and market-driven elements reflected in urban policies, introducing an innovative approach of local decentralization, unprecedented in the communist and socialist world. The evolution of locally based urban policies was especially favourable for the cities with preserved elements of self-government, inherited from previous periods. The cities presented in this article (Panevo, Sremska Mitrovica, Zrenjanin and Kikinda) follow this pattern due to the Habsburg legacy of strong local governance. Situated in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, these four small cities used the benefits of locally modified urban policies creating a balance between Modernist interventions, implemented during socialism, and the protection of the general outline of their refined historic cores. Considering these specificities and their impact on the urban continuum, this article will use the selected examples and their planning practice for highlighting a new perspective on the urban development manifested before, during and after the period of Yugoslav socialism.