Multi-Level Perspective on Sustainability Transition towards Nature-Based Solutions and Co-Creation in Urban Planning of Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

In recent years, nature-based solutions have been increasingly promoted as a climate change adaptation instrument, strongly advocated to be co-created. Achieving clear, coherent, and ambitious urban greening strategies, embedded in urban planning and developed in a co-creative, participatory and inclusive manner, is highly challenging within the EU enlargement context. In this article, such challenges are studied through two recent urban development initiatives in Belgrade, the Capital of Serbia: the first initiative focuses on planning the new Linear Park, within the framework of the CLEVER Cities Horizon 2020 project; the second initiative envisages the transformation of the privatised Avala Film Complex in the Košutnjak Urban Forest, primarily led by private interests but supported by the local authorities. The multiple-case study research method is applied, with an exploratory purpose and as a basis for potential future research on evaluation of co-creation processes for NBS implementation. The theoretical basis of this article is founded in the research on sustainability transitions, focusing on multi-level perspective (MLP) framework. The urban planning system in Belgrade and Serbia is observed as a socio-technical regime of the MLP. In such framework, we recognize co-creative planning of the Linear Park as a niche innovation. We interpret opposition towards planning of the Avala Film Complex as escalation, or an extreme element of the socio-technical landscape, comprised of civic unrests and political tensions on one side, combined with the climate crisis and excessive pollution on the other side. Moreover, the article examines informal urban planning instruments that can be implemented by the practitioners of niche innovations, that could support urban planners and NBS advocates in the Serbian and EU enlargement contexts to face the challenges of motivating all stakeholders to proactively, constructively and appropriately engage in co-creation.

The Utilization of the WMO-1234 Guidance to Improve Citizen’s Wellness and Health: An Italian Perspective

“…Furthermore, the city regeneration with vast green infrastructures also encounters a certain level of resistance from the population due to the substantial reduction in parking spaces, the perceived safety, and the gentrification effects [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Although presenting these problems as a perception of one side of the citizenry, many techniques of active participation have been experimented with to ensure higher social acceptability of regeneration through vegetation, and also through the application of shared governance [ 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

Which Fabric/Scale Is Better for Transit-Oriented Urban Design: Case Studies in a Developing Country

“…This research approach is commonly used in the fields of planning and urban studies, where real-life subjects are analysed and documented in order to formulate and test a hypothesis [51], such as Healy who investigated three urban regions in Europe in terms of making spatial strategies [52]. In terms of survey design and experimental methodologies, the method also reveals the causal relationships in real-life complex interferences [53]. As a benefit, case study research allows researchers to have a more intimate perspective, allowing them to delve further into the subject knowledge [54].…”

Greening Cities, Shaping Cities: Pinpointing Nature-Based Solutions in Cities between Shared Governance and Citizen Participation

“…The article may also raise reflections for the reader about the wider system of places and practices that the NBS belong to and should be considered with in order to assess and foster the benefits associated to them. With this paper, Mitić-Radulović and Lalović [18] explore the challenge of achieving clear, coherent and ambitious urban greening strategies embedded in urban planning and developed in a co-creative, participatory and inclusive manner within the European context. The work, using the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) on sustainability transitions, observes the urban planning system in Belgrade, Serbia, as a socio-technical regime with a focus on two recent urban development initiatives in Belgrade, the Capital of Serbia, as the specific context of analysis.…”