Mayors as creators of the role of general urban plan

Abstract

The General Urban Plan (GUP) is an integral part of local development policy and one of the most controversial development documents in Serbia. Although the Law (Planning and Construction Law, 2014) defines this instrument as a 'strategic development plan', it is not used as such in institutional practice. GUP is drafted merely to fulfill a formal requirement, utilised to satisfy individual interests, and ignored or amended, or followed blindly. Local stakeholders shape the design, implementation, and basic purpose of each GUP, but they are not even nearly equal to each other at any point, meaning they lack the same leverage, interest, or power to affect the drafting or implementation of documents of this magnitude. The GUP is largely left to the vagaries of the complex system of local authorities and its numerous currents and agents. This paper focuses on mayors as formally and potentially the most influential stakeholders in local governance, but with lack of knowledge or interest to change the role of GUP. There is an obvious deficit of agents in Serbia who can institutionalize GUP as a strategic instrument for local development, and serious deficit of actors who recognize the need for change and want to react.