National, un-national

Abstract

This chapter discusses urban developments in two major cities in Serbia, Belgrade and Novi Sad, influenced by the Balkan political crisis of the 1990s. Belgrade is the national capital of Serbia, with a dominantly Serbian population. Novi Sad is the capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, and home to a population of more than 20 different ethnicities. The seemingly bipolar relationship between these two cities started to emerge during the fall of Yugoslavia and has intensified during the subsequent shrinkage of the country into the current state of Serbia. The effects of war as well as migration have left their mark on the urban situation of both cities. Both cities are not old by European standards, Belgrade emerging before the rise of the Ottoman Empire and Novi Sad being a product of the eighteenth century and the rise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These two cities traditionally vary in size and ethnic make up from almost mono-ethnic Belgrade to multi-ethnic Novi Sad. This paper will explore the idea that national capitals such as Belgrade can give rise to “un-national capitals” such as Novi Sad. This will be viewed through a lens of the role of architecture and design in affecting the realities of both cities.

Keywords:

• geopolitics
• socialism
• urbanism
• Southeastern Europe
• Balkanization

Notes

The existing capitals were Belgrade and Tirana; the cities upgraded to the status of national capitals are Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje, and Podgorica. Prishtina's status is still disputed, but it is a de facto capital of a nation.

The artistic and architectural group called School of Missing Studies produced an educational film on this situation entitled Looking for October (see Pietromarchi 2005, 128–35).

A basic overview of the Non-Aligned Movement can be found in Willetts (1978).

Before 1989 and the fall of Berlin, the socialist countries that were part of Central Europe were Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany (DDR).

According to the published records of the Serbian National Theatre, the architect of the new building, completed in 1981, was Dr. Viktor Jackievicz (“Istorija SNP-a” 2012).

The last constitution of Yugoslavia was installed in 1974. Yugoslavia joined the KEBS in 1974 – today the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). For more about the OSCE see the organization's website (http://www.osce.org).

Tito responded by using soft power in public appearances while cleaning the ranks of dissidents. “[Tito's] words defuse the situation, the media performs a volte-face and the riot police disappear. The majority of students are jubilant, but a small hardcore of student activists continue to express their concerns and following another speech [by] Tito, in which he denounced extremism, riot police moved in and cleared the Philosophy and Sociology Faculty.… Slowly and surely the status quo was restored” (Grieves (2008).

This was Koolhaas's first visit to Belgrade. He was invited by the local design group called Mikser in partnership with the Ministry of the Republic of Serbia to give a lecture at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, and then offer a brainstorming workshop hosted by the Ministry of Culture. See “Rem Koolhaas in Belgrade” (2003).

From discussion in 2007 with Eyal Weizman, architect and director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths College, University of London, held at “Urban_Trans_ Formation,” the 2nd International Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Tongji University, Shanghai, 18–21 April 2007 (program at http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T185/F07Program.htm).

A brief but succinct history of popular taste in architecture in Serbia in the developments after World War II is given by Maldini (2009).

On the absence of high architecture in the democratization of a post-socialist society see Jovanović Weiss (2006a).

For a brief history of architectural and urban commissions in the aftermath of World War II in Yugoslavia, see Krečić (2003, 351–53).

For an account by Allied Forces Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, see Clark (2001); for a day-to-day account of this military operation, see “NATO Strikes: Timeline” (1999).

The event was covered in local media; see “Postavljanje spomen-obeliska u Beogradu” (2000).

See the interview with Vedran Mimica in Hötzl (2004).

Of the many popular books covering the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Michael Barrat Brown's (2005) may offer the closest analysis of the connection between Milošević and Tito.

See “Nelegalna gradnja” (2011) and “Kinezi falsifikuju i naše proizvode” (2012).

Background in Žegarac (1999).

Upon my visit in 1999, former chief urbanist of Belgrade, Vladimir Macura, then director of the Planning Office, requested the most recent satellite image of Belgrade. He assumed that naturally I would have it “as I came from the United States,” alluding to the US possession of satellite imagery.

See the overview of the term “Balkanization” in Jovanović Weiss (2006b).

See the analysis on the role of Novi Sad as an un-national capital vis-à-vis the history of Balkanization by Jovanović (2010, 171–81).

A profile of Lepa Brena as the folk symbol of the former Yugoslavia can be found on her official website, http://www.lepa-brena.net.

About the film Vidimo Se U Citulji [See You in the Obituaries] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1857939/).

Mileta Prodanović (2001) writes about Belgrade as a locus for the solidification of the criminal sector in the city via architecture.

The catalog was designed by Branko Pavić and Dejan Miljković (see Djurdjević 2002).

The Valley of Thieves (Dolina lopova in Serbian) is a popular nickname for illegal constructions of private villas in Novi Sad built on the unprotected side of the Danube River (see Romanovic 2011 for images).

The developer of the illegal housing upgrades in the Karaburma area of Belgrade was the entrepreneur Aleksandar Lukić (see “Ko i kako gradi stanove” 2008).

According to the Serbian government, European integration is the political priority.