Alternative Futures for Sarajevo Polje

The publication of our 2016 international project is out now. Together with colleagues and students from Sarajevo and Brussels we looked at sustainable landscape perspectives for the plain area around Ilidza in the east of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

The specific emphasis of this study project was on the integration of urban planning, environmental protection and landscape architecture for building a sustainable development perspective for the urban periphery of Sarajevo. Our interdisciplinary cooperation generated innovative ideas to the planning, design and management of dispersed and fragmented areas in urban fringe zones.

In our project, landscape was understood in as the everyday environment of people which is the basis of their livelihood. It is the landscape scale at which competing territorial interests need to be negotiated. However, people’s site-specific perspectives and possibilities are the key to sustainability, which is why community involvement is crucial.

The landscape perspective should help building a cross-sectoral and community-based vision for Sarajevo Polje. We hope that these ideas and visualisations help the communities of Ilidza, Novi Grad and their neighbours to envision alternative futures in which Sarajevo Polje is simply a great place for people and nature alike.

Many thanks go to the International Burch University (Faculty of Architecture), the University of Sarajevo (Faculty of Forestry) and the Association for Landscape Architecture in Bosnia and Herzegowina (ALA BiH) for their support of this project.

Please download and disseminate the web version of our project brochure.