Industrial heritage preservation and the urban revitalisation process in Belgrade

Abstract

Urban regeneration is often driven by economic interests, while the preservation of the meaning and memory of a place is neglected. This could be considered as a reason a series of civil initiatives emerged in Belgrade to prevent damage to the built heritage and to indicate the need for stronger citizen involvement in the city's development processes. This paper will focus on the issues of the Belgrade waterfront industrial heritage protection process by exploring eleven case studies, observed through a framework that includes key actors in the protection process. In order to determine the level of citizen participation in this process, the degree of their activity was studied by analyzing the social media content through which they communicate about this particular topic. Furthermore, possibilities of different approaches in presentation and utilization of the abandoned industrial heritage will be investigated, in order to define common procedures that will be in line with the city development goals, citizen expectations and heritage protection measures.