Page 1 of 10
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 8
August 2016
Available online:http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 51
Documenting initiatives on urban transformation in
South-East Europe
Florina Jerliu1
and Bujar Bajçinovci 1, *
florina.jerliu@uni-pr.edu, bujar.bajcinovci @uni-pr.edu
1 Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Prishtina, Kosovo
* Corresponding author
Abstract
Rapid transformation of cities and urban
spaces in South-East Europe (SEE) since
1990s is closely related to the common
experience of post-socialist and/or post- war challenges in the region. Among
pressing issues identified as a common
challenge in the region is the trend of self- regulation or unchecked urban
development, which contrasts the pre- 1990s conventional central planning and
development format. This has drawn the
attention of a wider Europe, which resulted
in a number of initiatives, both
governmental and nongovernmental, been
created to jointly initiate regional projects
that aim at developing urban solutions. The
emerging criticism developed by such
initiatives has played and important role in
raising the awareness about the complexity
and the need to address the SEE context
within the context of Europe as a whole.
This paper introduces the nature of urban
transformation in SEE through the example
of capital cities; it further documents
commonly identified urban development
challenges by two regional initiatives,
NALAS and Archis SEE Network, from the
perspective of authors, the first being a
member in both networks. Results suggest
that the way forward is to foster national
legal frameworks in SEE by taking into
account the contextual inputs for urban
interventions, in terms of both urban policy
and case study projects, developed through
regional and international cooperation.
Keywords: South East Europe, regional
initiatives, urban transformation, self- regulation, unchecked development, urban
intervention
1 Introduction
As of 1990s, former socialist countries that
make the region of the Southeastern
Europe (SEE), and especially those that
emerged out of wars in the former
Yugoslav Federation have gone through
rapid political, social and economic
transitions. The most visible effects of
such changes are found in capital cities
while most complex emerge those being
subject to the operations of international
processes carried out by the UN.[1]
Despite contextual differences, the
European agenda ranked high in newly
formulated state policies, as it guarantees
support in overcoming challenges of
multiple transitions and investing in
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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 8
August 2016
Available online:http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 52
economic growth, social wellbeing, as well
as acquiring the free movement within
European Union countries. As alleged by
the EU, all these countries “share the
European perspective”,[2] which leads to
the thought that with all SEE countries
becoming candidate, and consequently,
member states, the synonym of regional
transition would nominally come to an
end. However, the ever-growing regional
cooperation and networking in SEE has
disclosed the fact that the transitional
period takes longer, and that the
fulfillment of the EU accession criteria
doesn’t guarantee the aspired linear,
uniform, and successful transition from the
former single communist party system and
centrally managed state-owned economy,
towards a democratic society and market
based economy. [1] What is certain is that
the development benchmarking and the
EU support in this process is highly
needed given the fact that the delay in
overcoming transitions in SEE shall by
default affect European agendas in issues
which are crucial to the common
institutional, physical and cultural
environments.
Among challenges identified through
networking initiatives in the region is the
rapid transformation of physical
environment. Descending practices in
shaping urban areas, in many cases to the
detriment of agricultural lands, and misuse
of natural resources, remain a common
denominator for the SEE, regardless of the
EU membership status. More specifically,
the unchecked urban development has
been identified in almost all post-socialist
and/or postwar countries in the region, and
as such, it has drawn the attention of a
wider Europe. Commitments that the SEE
countries have taken in this respect, have
been addressed and are gradually being
met through model projects and initiatives
coming from governments and the civil
societies. Examples of such engagements
are given in this paper in order to
document findings and common
challenges of urban transformations in
SEE.
2 The context of urban transformation
in SEE
Although the geographical division of the
South-East Europe (SEE) itself is not
formally defined by UN *
[3] the term
itself has been widely adopted to identify
the project designation area by co- financing initiatives and regional networks
as a substitute to the geographical and
historical term for the Balkan, with the aim
of coming closer to the united Europe’s
cultural and political orientations. Despite
of the number of countries (see: Figures 1-
4) that do fall under this region, which
commonly varies depending on the
cooperation projects or networks, SEE
shares rather common challenges in terms
* There is no formal recognized geographical
division of the Southeaster Europe. The Division
provided by the United Nations defines regions
in Europe into Eastern, Western, Southern and
Northern Europe. The division created in late
1990s is programmatic and is linked with
development co-funding such is the EU initiative
called the Stability Pact for South Eastern
Europe. The use of this term has grown and is
gradually substituting the historical and
geographical term of Balkan by the pretext of
diminishing the negative connotation that has
been generally associated with by the western
European countries.
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Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 8
August 2016
Available online:http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 53
of urban regeneration and development
issues.
Unchecked urban development has been
identified as an issue in majority of SEE
countries. The urban self-regulation,
commonly referred to housing
development without seeking building
permit, has been associated with urban
growth caused by massive migration of
rural population to urban centers. In the
case of Kosovo, it is estimated that only
during the first two years of the post-war
period (between 1999 and 2001) the
percentage of urban population increased
from 37% to 44%. [4] The increasing
demands for land for housing in major
cities have therefore subsequently affected
their outskirts, landscapes and
environment in a larger scheme.
This trend has been notable in almost all
SEE capital cities. Variations derive
depending on the inherited context, mainly
being attributed to pre-socialist
development level, and infrastructural
capacities of cities to accommodate the
needs of migration flux, as well as their
latter institutional maturity to manage
rapid urban changes.
Figure 1. Informal settlements in Tirana
From the left: urban sprawl in the outskirts, unplanned densification of the inner-city
Figure 2. Urban self-regulation in Prishtina
From the left: unchecked development in the outskirts, and urban densification / unplanned construction of the
inner-city
While the Adriatic coastline is
experiencing new spatial metropolitan- rural interaction and the public space is
suffering as a result of this development
process, Tirana (Fig. 5) is struggled with
consequences of newly formed informal
settlements in public land, and Prishtina
(Figure 6), Belgrade and Sofia with
buildings erected without construction
permit. On the other hand, Bucharest is
