Urban Management & Mobility in Strategic Projects in Eastern Serbia

Abstract

Climate change in general and recent floods in particular in Serbia urges for creative, efficient and effective adaptation and mitigation measures to be implemented in urban and rural areas, especially in the field of transport and urban and rural tourism development. The experience show that ‘hard’ measures in the field of transport are costly and take time to implement, and that they have to be followed with ‘soft’ measures which cover the issues of management and organization in transportation sector and raising travel awareness towards more sustainable modes of transport among citizens and decision makers. This shift calls for complex conception of new adaptive planning, governance and management approaches and instruments to sustainable urban and rural development and mobility in an integrated way that is context sensitive. This paper will present contemporary theoretical and practical European approaches in the field of sustainable urban and rural development and mobility management and their applicability in Serbia aiming to identify possible directions for improvement and use specific management instruments that might work in this context. Our methodology is based on the case study framed in the elaboration of strategic project ‘Integral Plan for the Sustainable Development of Rural Tourism in Eastern Serbia’ in Golubac, Kladovo, Majdanpek and Negotin done within the umbrella of larger GIZ project ‘Municipal economic development in the Danube Region’. We argue that it is possible to work within the community, with ordinary people, households, vine producers, and with local government representatives, incrementally, trough site visits talking with people, participative interactive workshops and formal presentations in order to build trust, raise awareness and recommend sustainable measures and projects in the field of mobility and travel awareness for urban and rural tourism development aiming at identifying possible improvement directions in Serbian context.