Searching for the code of New Belgrade’s open space: case study of Block 37

Abstract

New Belgrade was among the biggest building sites in Europe after World War II, and especially during the 1960s and the 1970s. Being located within the capital of former Yugoslavia, this entirely new part of the city also represented a statement in establishing a modern socialistic state. New Belgrade was planned and built in correspondence with the postulates of modernist urbanism and according to the new contemporary set of urban indicators, with an orthogonal matrix consisting of units called super-blocks, which became independent local communities to a certain extent. The continuity of the open spaces that are formed by the built structures within the super-blocks is one of the most interesting aspects of these blocks and this paper aims to highlight them as one of New Belgrade’s grates qualities. The main goal of this paper is to explore the structure of open space of these super-blocks. This will be done through the set of urban indicators such as: percentage of open space (green areas, sport and recreation areas, traffic areas, pedestrian paths, etc.), floor space index, lot coverage, etc. The paper will also examine the current threat of occupation by privatization of the open space of New Belgrade and the division of the super-block structure into smaller pieces.