The Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment is one of the key actions outlined in

the 6th Community Environment Action Programme and is to be presented to the

European Parliament and the Council in 2005. Four priority themes have been identified
for the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment, and independent working groups
have been established on each of these four themes. They are:

• Sustainable Urban Transport

• Sustainable Urban Management
• Sustainable Urban Design
• Sustainable Urban Construction

DG Environment of the European Commission awarded a service contract to the

European Academy of the Urban Environment (EA.UE) to prepare an Overview Report
for each of 12 Candidate Countries related to the four priority themes.
Belgrade’s post-socialist urban evolution - Vujovic and Petrovic

18.4
Concluding remarks
Belgrade’s urban governance and planning have been quite reactive since 1990.
The general trend of deindustrialization has not yet started and neither has the
influx of significant foreign investments to the city. Therefore, Belgrade still has
a quite peripheral position within the European urban network.

During the Milosevic regime, only partial market reforms were implemented to
the extent that ensured benefits for the political elite and those closely connected
with it, thus, blocking effectively political, economic, and institutional reforms.
Even after the fall of Milosevic’s regime in 2000, the political elite retained signif-
icant degree of power. Complex legal and institutional transformations, including
those in the area of urban development, proved particularly difficult since they
required the dissolution of informal connections between political and economic
elites reluctant to support policy changes diminishing their power.
Therefore, sound laws governing the sphere of urban development in Belgrade
according to free market, democratic principles are still largely missing. On the
other hand, the question of laws’ quality becomes irrelevant when political volun-
tarism dominates their implementation. The relation between the mechanisms of
land use regulation and land tenure still remains unresolved. The retention of state
ownership over urban land is intensely criticized by economic actors, urban profes-
sionals, and local politicians. Nevertheless, no serious attempts have been made to
initiate urban land privatization.
The relations of the actors involved in a democratic urban development process
presuppose that communication between various levels of social networks should
flow in both directions – top down and bottom up. This includes the fostering
of strong connections between key public and private stakeholders, as well as the
formation of tight links between citizen groups and public and private organizations
operating at the local level. In circumstances when these linkages are weak, the
incidences of corruption and anomie are much more evident than in efficient and
flexible urban development systems (Woolcock, 1998; Keyes, 2001).
In the case of the widespread illegal construction in Belgrade, two types of networks
could be described – vertical and horizontal. One can speak of a vertical
interest alliance between the illegal actors and politicians who tolerate it to secure,
among other things, electoral votes. There are also vertical clientelist links running
up and down inefficient and corrupt government institutions. This system could be
described as “consensual chaos,” or “organized irresponsibility.” The horizontal
networks are found in the gray zone of urban development in Belgrade, where a
reactivation of solidarity micro-networks takes place, motivated by necessity more
than sentiment. They could be described as familism, a kind of social capital at the
bottom level that aids survival strategies, but impedes efficient social and system
integration. Therefore, both types of networks, the vertical and the horizontal,
are inappropriate for the realization of cooperative, efficient, and flexible city
development.
Urban planning in Serbia is in a deep crisis that begs for radical new solutions.
The passive responses to market-driven spatial changes have been characteristic
of neoliberal regimes. In a somewhat twisted version, such planning approaches
also appear in states characterized by a loose regulatory environment, political
voluntarism, and vulgar economy, thus, becoming an obstacle to development of
new proactive approaches in the field of urban management (Vujoševic, 2002: ´
5–6). The mixture of views, ranging from economic neoliberalism to socialist
protectionism, is considered typical for all participants in the processes of post-
socialist transformation. According to our analysis, neither politicians nor urban
planners in Belgrade support exclusively the neoliberal tenet that the logic of
market relations should pervade and guide all principles of social organization. A
major question, however, is whether a sufficiently strong alliance could be formed
among political and other actors to support this view as the current situation seems
firmly dominated by a “wild capitalism” mentality.
The proactive approach considers the actors involved in the urban develop-
ment process not as stakeholders but as shareholders, which means that the plan-
ning process should attempt to synchronize the competing interests of all parties.
In the case of Belgrade, neither planners nor citizens have developed adequate
foundations for the implementation of such approach. Due to the heavy socialist
legacy, citizens lack information about their rights, while the political elite remains
unaccustomed to considering public opinion. In addition, people’s ideas about
their social identity have become blurred due to an on-going process of social
re-stratification since 1990. Their potential, therefore, to recognize their mutual
interests – a most important step for collective action – is rather low at this point.
Finally, there is the effect of betrayed expectations, which, to a certain extent,
accounts for citizens’ resignation and political passivity (Offe, 1996: 231–235).
This has been another major negative impact of the long-delayed socio-economic
transformation and the high social tolerance for illegal practices. Therefore, the
implementation of an effective reform in the system of urban management in
Belgrade faces the challenges of a de-legitimization crisis more serious than the ones
exhibited in most other post-socialist cities.
The Structural Contexts of Civic Engagement: Voluntary Association Membership in
Comparative Perspective
Author(s): Evan Schofer and Marion Fourcade-Gourinchas

On one hand, political structures constrain the institutional means to pursue civic and
engagement thereby shape the possibilities for individual action (Clemens 1997;
Skocpol 1985; Skocpol et al. 2000); on the other hand, they serve as social sites where
perceptions and ideas about actorhood and sovereignty are played out, institutionalized,
and constructed as "legitimate" (Meyer and Jepperson 2000; Steinmetz 1993). As an
example, civic engagement may not be particularly prominent in Anglo-Saxon societies
simply because people share liberal values. But the dialectical operation of enabling
political structures, arm's-length state and available cultural models policies, that
emphasize actorhood may produce a social environment in which civic engagement
simply "makes sense."
Transactional and Participatory Activism in The Emerging European Polity: The Puzzle
of East-Central Europe - Tsveta Petrova and Sidney Tarrow

- is it true that citizen participation in this region is too weak to influence political
communication, to produce sufficient levels of participation, and serve as a check on
elites?
- if there are signs of a stirring of citizen participation, what forms is it taking?
- what implications do these emerging patterns suggest about the region’s integration into
the broader arena of participation in the European Union?

- Individual participation is the dimension that is most directly measured by the survey
evidence we have summarized above – whether people vote, whether they join voluntary
associations, whether they turn out for demonstrations or protest meetings.

- But there are also relational aspects of activism – whether and how voluntary
associations and advocacy groups interact with one another, with political parties, and
with power-holders. For example, do they coalesce around interests of common concern?
Form loose networks that communicate regularly and share information? Combine for
joint pressure on policy-makers? And do they reach upward from the local level to the
national and international levels of decision-making? Are civic associations engaged in
transactional as well as participatory activism?

- By participatory activism we mean the potential and actual magnitude of individual and
group participation in civic life, interest group activities, voting and elections.

- By transactional activism we mean the ties – enduring and temporary – among

organized non-state actors and between them and political parties, powerholders, and
other institutions.

We see a richer picture of transactions consisting of coalition formation around single

issues, network formation, and negotiation with elites, on the part of civic groups in
Central and Eastern Europe than would not be predicted from the levels of individual
participation that have been observed.

A high level of inter-group transactions in the presence of low levels of mass

participation may be creating political systems of a decidedly elitist cast. But
powerholders confronted by organizational elites with weak followerships are
nevertheless more constrained, and may be more responsive, than powerholders faced by
inert or alienated citizenries. As occurred in western countries in their on periods
of political development, relations among groups and between them and parties and
policy makers may be laying the foundation for vigorous civil societies in the future.
Romanian NGOs unite to reclaim public spaces in post-communist Bucharest: St.
Joseph’s Cathedral – A Case Study

Actors/ stakeholders:
The Roman-Catholic Archbishopric
„Vladimir Ghika“ Association of Catholic Families
Millenium Building Development
State Inspectorate for Constructions
Romanian Senate
European Parliament

1. Povestesc povestea Catedralei – scurt (200 cuv)

2. Intrebarile (50 cuv)
3. Theoretical concepts (150 cuv)
4. Metodologie (100 cuv)

1. – inceputul scandalului, actorii implicati, formarea Platformei pt Bucuresti, infiintarea

Asociatiei Salvati Bucurestiul, erijarea ei in reprezentant al Platformei pt Bucuresti
tradusa in implicarea in scandalul Catedralei, Platforma pt Bucuresti inainte de Salvati
Bucurestiul nu s a implicat ca atare

2. Ce implicatii ar putea avea coalizarea ONG-urilor in cazul concret al Catedralei pentru

revendicarea spatiilor publice din Bucuresti in general?
a. Ce forme a luat coalizarea in cazul concret al Catedralei?
b. Ce relatii exista intre actori?
c. Este acesta un model de coalizare pentru ONGurile romanesti sau este mai degraba
customizat pt acest caz?

3. Two theoretical approaches:

1. Social capital, collective action – Putnam (o reinterpretare in cheie romaneasca a
modelului de civic engagement) Un hibrid intre modelul ideal de collective action descris
de Putnam si anti-modelul sau “de supravietuire” bazat pe relatii intre membri familiei si
persoane foarte apropiate. Interpersonal networks could serve the diffusion of democratic
ideas.
Tsveta Petrova – the example of collective action in relation to the construction of the
Budapest Ring – striking similarities with the Romanian case; the concepts of relational
and transactional activism which might apply to my research.

2.Public space privatization and commercialization in post-socialist cities (Kirilov),

ownership uses vs. rights of use with regard to public spaces, the public spaces as
socially-constructed places or „lived spaces“ (Berdoulay) – for each inhabitant a place
has a unique reality, one in which meaning is shared with other people and places, this
also means tensions and contests between actors in the construction of space -> the need
for collective action against real estate developers.

Research methods: Given the richness of actors,

When we speak of public space in the case of St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bucharest, we
have to consider the two-fold nature of the discussion: first, the Cathedral as a public
space in itself and second, the nature of the space that the Cathedral Plazza development
project is/was being erected on. If the first implication of public space is rather easy to
grasp, the second one requires more scrutiny. One of the features of public space in post-
socialist cities is that it had, in a very short period of time, to be reorganized to
accomodate its implicit function as marketplace (Kirilov ....), function that had been
denied to it by the communist urban order. Therefore, whether through restitutions of
property to former owners, the sale of once state-owned urban land or through
appropriation of urban space for commercial purposes (Kirilov: 274-275), a large portion
of public space became private space. However, some of it is being reclaimed by its
„rightful“ owners in an attempt at controlling the phenomenon of privatization (in the
sens of being transformed into private space) of the public space. To this purpose,
members of the civil society associated and made their voice heard also in matters that
concerned the changes the public space of their city underwent. As in other former
communist countries, the political reform, by providing a more democratic environment,
can be seen as the trigger of other major changes including those related to the awakening
of the civil society (Kirilov: 421). In 2000 ordonanta privind infiintarea ong urilor in
contextul pre-aderarii la UE – in primul rand sub influenta externa, incerc sa arat cum se
concretizeaza in termeni de capital social, de collective action dat fiind ca coalizarea nu
pare a fi rezultatul influentei externe desi in case study apar si actori externi.