Non-compliance of spatial plans of the highest rank in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Non-compliance of spatial plans of the highest rank in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a signifi cant problem which has negative consequences to the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is particularly noticeable in the current debate on the route of Sarajevo-Belgrade motorway. This type of spatial plans includes spatial plans of the entities, cantons and Brčko District. This paper is an attempt to shed light on this problem by way of examining its genesis, characteristics and possible solutions. The emphasis was placed on the precise identifi cation of the non-compliance rate of spatial plans of the highest rank in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The primary hypothesis states that the non-compliance rate of these documents is above 50%. The auxiliary hypothesis states that this non-compliance is the result of inadequate legal treatment of this matter and of the non-existence of policy framework in the fi eld of spatial planning in Bosnia and Herzegovina..

From conformance to performance? A comparative analysis of the European Union territorial policy trends in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…The spatial plan of the Republic of Srpska does not address coordination or dialogue among administrative units, which is reflected in the jurisdictional organisation of the entity: the regional level between the entity and municipalities is entirely missing. Consequently, the national government subordinates local authorities in the process of spatial planning decision-making (Bijelić and Đorđević, 2018).…”

“…What is typical for all the cases is the inferior position of local administration in planning and decision-making. The top-down coordination -from the national/ entity towards the local level in Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, respectively, and from the cantonal to the municipality level in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina -prevail over the bottom-up approach (Zeković and Vujošević, 2018;Bijelić and Đorđević, 2018;Bojičić-Dželilović, 2011;Maruna et al, 2018). The reason behind such a discrepancy between the norms proposed in the plans and spatial planning reality is the complexity inscribed in the coordinative effortan acknowledgement of data from the local plans, their synthesis, and adaptation for use at the regional and national levels require various resources, mainly time and expert skills.…”

“…All the cases (though to various extents) indicate the public sector as the most active actor, whilst the private and non-governmental sectors' participation is supported declaratively in documents, yet rare in reality. The spatial plans recognise the need to bridge that gap, however, clear and transparent mechanisms to achieve multi-actor efforts are missing (Bijelić and Đorđević, 2018;Jusić, 2014). Poor public response results from the complex nature of spatial plans and excessive use of technical jargon, finally disabling citizens and other stakeholders to grasp the main ideas as presented in plans.…”

“…In the federation's draft plan, multidisciplinary cooperation is rudimentary and it is not applied in practice. In Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, while they implement proposals from the plan, the integration of different sectors does not occur mainly due to a considerable complexity of data collection and its analysis when coming from more than one institution (Bijelić and Đorđević, 2018). For example, the Serbian spatial plan proposes tourist routes in central Serbia near the cultural heritage areas.…”