Integrative and locally sensitive approach to the community planning in Serbia

Abstract

Creating a sustainable and balanced relation between urban and rural settlements cannot be imagined without the integrative approach to the territorial development, which again, relies upon the environmental protection and economic and social cohesion within the spatial framework. Once neglected and not treated as equally important as the ecological sustainability, the social sustainability and cohesion have been gaining importance during the 21st century. As one of the pillars of the social sustainability and cohesion, public places and services have drawn a great attention worldwide recently. At the same time, public services planning remains one of the most important themes of urban and spatial planning and is actual despite the fact that the wider context- planning of the public sector – was treated exhaustively both in theory and practice. On the other hand, public services have been much less the subject of research - and almost exclusively in the field of urban sociology, while very little in the field of the methodology of urban/spatial planning. In light of this, the focus of the discussion is the spatial aspect and methodological innovation of the planning of public services and its importance within community planning, as a support to the spatial development of the community, with special regard to the locally sensitive approach. Focusing the research on the spatial domain has come from the integrating character of the territory which reflects the relations of the planned activities and land uses, regardless of their spatial characteristics. This choice is entirely in accordance with the integrative character of modern urban/spatial planning, as well as the integrative nature of the sustainable development. The locally sensitive approach ensures better implementation and adaptation of the general concepts to the local needs. The results of the research aim to improve the theoretical basis for planning and contribute to the establishing better practices of the public services planning in Serbia.