Urban Rings as Indicators of Urban Transformation: The City of Nikšić, Montenegro

Prostor, 2024

The task of this work is to present three key urban plans, courtesy of which the city of Nikšić developed during its modern history. After liberation from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, Nikšić received its first regulatory plan, prepared by the architect Josip Slade Šilović (1828-1911) in 1883. The city developed according to this plan until the Second World War. After the Second World War, Montenegro became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a republic, and Nikšić became the city with the highest degree of urbanisation in that federation. This rapid urbanisation was directed University of Montenegro, Faculty of Architecture, Bulevar Džordža Vašingtona bb, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2822-0529 bojkovicv@gmail.com Scientific Subject Reviewhttps://doi.org/10.31522/p.32.1(67).13UDC 711(497.16 Nikšić):72(497.5)Technical Sciences / Architecture and Urban Planning 2.01.02. - Urban and Physical Planning Article Received / Accepted: 29. 2. 2024. / 10. 6. 2024.by the second urban plan, carried out by the Urban Planning Insti-tute of the Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy, Zagreb, in 1954-1958. The author of this plan was professor and architect Josip Seissel (1904-1987). The third urban plan of impor-tance for the city was carried out by the Urban Planning Institute of Croatia, Zagreb, in 1984 and was adopted in 1986. This urban plan enabled a logical upgrade of the previous two plans. A result of these three urban plans by Croatian architects is Nikšić’s unique form and urban identity.

CHANCES. Practices, Spaces and Buildings in Cities' Transformation, 2021

The aim of this paper is to show the cultural phenomena created by the construction of two buildings in a socialist, industrial city that have influenced its urban transformation. In the case of the second largest Montenegrin city, Nikšić, two buildings marked the cultural and economic development, the Union house built in 1962 by architect Đorđije Minjević (1924-2013) and the Home of revolution unfinished building which construction began in 1977, designed by architect Marko Mušič (1946). The Union house was among the first in Montenegro built in an international style and among the first in ex-Yugoslavia with vertical brise-solei. The building contains several functions: a large cinema hall with 800 seats as well the library, classrooms and offices for the Worker’s University. For industrial city that was rapidly developing, the existence of the Union house as a place where film projections, concerts, theatre performances, and education took place was of great importance. In the context of architecture, this building brought new trends and contents that soon became focus of everyday urban life. In the former Yugoslavia during the seventies, it was common to build monuments and memorial buildings dedicated to victims of the liberation struggles in the Second World War. The biggest memorial buildings with more the 22,000 square meters of different functions and contents, called the Home of Revolution is located in the city of Nikšić. The building should present the economic strength of the city at that time but also the unity of all Yugoslav nations, since a large number of donation from all over the country were used for the construction. When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991, there was a suspension of construction of all federal projects including Home of Revolution. Today the building is completely abandoned.

After a morphological study, conducted on various cities of the size 80.000 to 2.000.000 inhabitants in the area of the former Yugoslavia, the ex Yugoslav cities appear to reveal four distinctive and readable urban development faces: they show four different structural entities in four periods: they were named the „core period“, the „gründerzeit“ period, the „socialist“ period and the „turbourban“ city development period. All of them can be seen as results of the city management streams and the power relationships throughout history and in the carefully constructed appearance of the »socialist urban planning« which established the „respect to the historical urban tradition“ on one side and the „brave new development“ on the other. The city structure comparison of the finally targeted five ex Yugoslav cities - Belgrade, Sarajevo, Split, Priština and Maribor - shows similarities that reveal the phenomena that is unique for all ex Yugoslav cities, be it in the socialist period or in the planning period of the last 20 years of urban management and planning. My paper for the occasion includes my latest research results of the city structure studies I am conducting during my dissertation preparation.

Acta Geobalcanica, 2021

Novi Sad and Petrovaradin, as two inseparable entities, have undergone large urban changes in the latest decades. Huge transformations in morphological features and spatial structure of Novi Sad occurred in the period from the breakup of Yugoslavia to the end of the second decade of the 21st century. The transformation of Petrovaradin followed at a slower pace at first but later on it intensified. The paper data rely on General Urban Plans of Novi Sad from the years 1985, 2000 and 2006. The comparative method, field research and analysis were applied to identify the parts of the city which underwent the largest transformation processes. Certain changes in the structure of street networks, changes in the inner physiognomy of the settlement, as well as disruption of architectural balance have been recognized. The direction of urban transformations has been identified by the analysis of social changes. Also, the present and potential problems were pointed out including the improvements which the inhabitants gained due to urban transformations of Novi Sad and Petrovaradin. It has been estimated that urban transformation in Novi Sad led to disruption of architectural style in certain parts of the city by erecting modern buildings which do not integrate into the setting of architecture from earlier periods neither with their exterior nor with the materials used. Contemporary building structures occupy larger areas of municipal building land, the number of apartments per unit area increases, the need for parking spaces also increases and green areas are reduced in the city.

Osmanli Mirasi Arastirmalari Dergisi

The research work is based on an analysis of the relationship between the planned city and the historic structure from the Ottoman period-Case Study Podgorica, the city in Montenegro. Podgorica is a city that consists three urban structures created in different periods: The Old town-Stara Varoš (from 15th century-period Ottoman rule), The New town-Nova Varoš (from late 19 th and early 20 th century) and New planned town (from the second half of the 20 th century). The focus of the study is old town transformation in the urban expansion of Podgorica in the 20th and 21st centuries. In the work is given the recognition of influence factors and dominant functions, that led to the discontinuous development of the planned new areas of city Podgorica in relation to the historic structure-Stara Varoš.

Back to the Sense of the City: International Monograph Book

Once they adopted the sedentary lifestyle, humans set to building settlements which were to protect groups of families and give them the sense of belonging to a material and social community. The settlement unit which could be called a housing complex goes back thousands of years BC. The scale of problems related to housing environment grew considerably with the emergence and development of cities, yet truly distinctive quantitative and qualitative changes occurred in the early 20th century. Implementation of the programmatic assumptions of the Athens Charter resulted in the emergence of spatial and functional structures based on hierarchic dependence of components. The initial projects reflected the pursuit of a human-scale environment and the structural division into neighbourhood units. Undoubtedly, the second part of the 20th century brought about a change in the trends of development in cities. Large housing estates were abandoned in favour of a much greater diversity of housin...

Architecture and Engineering, 2023

Introduction: During its long and dramatic history, Montenegro has had close political, economic, and cultural ties with Russia. However, in the context of architecture, the connections between these two countries are the least known and explored. Purpose of the study: The present study aims to present for the first time some of the most significant achievements made by Russian architects in the city of Nikšić in Montenegro in the period between the end of the 19 th and the first half of the 20 th century to a wider professional audience. We present two cases: the project of the Cathedral Church of Saint Basil of Ostrog, which was designed by the architect Mikhail Timofeevich Preobrazhensky, and the project of the Upper Ostrog Monastery, the most significant achievement of the architect Vladimir N. Sukurenko. Methods: The methodological approach required classification and comparison of archival materials through the processes of synthesis, analysis, and deduction. Based on the guidelines of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property of Montenegro, we formed criteria that were used to evaluate the work of the aforementioned architects. The criteria are sorted into three groups. The first group involves building characteristics, where we evaluate authenticity and integrity, degree of preservation, uniqueness, and rarity. In the second group, covering the significance of the building, we assess the historical and scientific significance, archaeological significance, architectural and artistic significance, and technical significance. Finally, in the third group of criteria, we study the age of the buildings, social and economic importance, environmental and landscape importance. Results: Based on our criteria, we find that the Cathedral Church of Saint Basil of Ostrog is a symbol and the most important spatial element of the identity of the city of Nikšić, while the Upper Ostrog Monastery, one of the most important sanctuaries in orthodox Christianity, represents the pinnacle of the construction and architectural process.

Spatium 22, 2010

This paper points to current transformations of the New Belgrade architectural and urban space identifying the process of filling the empty undeveloped areas within the New Belgrade blocks under the pressure of new commercial facilities. Given that these changes are not regulated by plans in an appropriate way, they are manifested in the space as problem situations leading to the production of space which is appropriate for the narrow interests of capital holders, while interests of direct users, as well as interest of a wider public, are most often neglected. The paper presents a critical analysis of the existing conditions and identifies problems emerging in the development and planning of the New Belgrade urban tissue. The space transformations have been explored at the level of urban and physical structure, urban landscape and user's life. Identified problem situations are indicative for further consideration of strategies for urban-architectural planning and design of New Belgrade.

2015

Sustainability, 2019

This paper analyzes the basic characteristics of Serbia’s urban system after World War II. The term urban system is largely determined by the use and functioning of the space in which it exists. We used the methods common in urban geography, notably the Rank-Size Rule and the Law of the Primate City with the aim of identifying the basic regularities, as the first step in an in-depth study of an under-researched topic. The research seeks to contribute to explaining the causes of the previous and current situation in the national settlement network, as a prerequisite for planning the future organization of the settlement network. Our study, conducted in Serbia, finds polarization apparent in the prominent domination of the capital city in terms of population, and this is a key feature of Serbia’s urban system. The current situation is the result of an intensive process of urbanization, but also of the establishment of new administrative boundaries after the disintegration of Yugoslavi...