Designing Tito’s Capital: Urban Planning, Modernism, and Socialism in Belgrade

321 Pages·2014·4.37 MB·English

by  Brigitte Le Normand

,
DESIGNING TITOS CAPITAL
CULTURE, POLITICS, AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Dianne Harris, Editor
brigitte le normand
Urban Planning, Modernism, and Socialism
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESS
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press,
Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2014, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Le Normand, Brigitte.
Designing Tito’s Capital: Urban Planning, Modernism, and
Socialism / Brigitte Le Normand.
pages cm. — (Culture, Politics, and the Built Environment)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8229-6299-1 (paperback)
1. City planning—Serbia—Belgrade. 2. Socialism—
Serbia—Belgrade. 3. Socialism—Yugloslvia. I. Title.
HT169.S462B455 2014
307.1’216094971—dc23 2014008208
To my mother, Layla Le Normand, with love,
in recognition of her accomplishments,
her courage through adversity,
and her tremendous generosity of spirit
New houses, roads, parks will be here. And the life of man im-
proved for one thousand years. When we meet we shall not see
the river, nor remember the marshes and coppices; our meetings
will be novel from greeting to sunset, changed to the core by a
socialist revolution. But the foundations of this are ancient, very
ancient. Since times unknown, this triangle defined by two rivers
and opened to infinity on the third side, the white town, invisible
and always present Belgrade, inseparable from the town on the hill.
From now on, this will be the heart that vigorously pumps life far
to the North and deep into the South, the center of the brotherly
union of Yugoslav peoples.
Milorad Panić-Surep, quoted in Milvoje Kovačević et al., eds.,
Novi Beograd: New Town
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 Modernist Functionalist Planning in
Global Context 3
2 A Blueprint for Modernity 25
3 The Lost Decade and the Dawn of a New Era 73
4 New Belgrade, Capital of Yugoslav Modernity 103
5 Planning Undone: “Wild” Construction and the
Market Reforms 147
6 Modernism under Fire: The Changing Attitudes
of Social Scientists and Urban Designers in
1960s Yugoslavia 189
7 Modernity Redefined: The 1972 Master Plan 213
Conclusion 243
Notes 249
Bibliography 273
Index 287
vii

Acknowledgments
This book has been many years in the making and owes a great deal to many
people. I wish to extend my deep gratitude first and foremost to all the urban
planners who agreed to share their personal experiences with me: Aleksan-
dra Banović, Milica Jakšić, Branislav Jovin, Ljubomir Lukić, Vladimir Macura,
Vesna Matičević, Vera Paunović, Ružica Petrović, Ljubdrag Šimić, and Borislav
Stojkov. I am indebted to the Institut za noviju istoriju, in Belgrade, for hosting
and assisting me during my stay. I also wish to thank Marta Vukotić-Lazar, An-
tonije Antić, Miodrag Ferenček, Dragan Arbutin, Andrija Dodić, and other kind
souls at the Urbanistički zavod Beograda for going beyond the call of duty. I
owe much thanks to Branko Bojović, Ksenija Petovar, Sreten Vujović, Ljubodrag
Dimić, and Predrag Marković for their very valuable advice. Darko Ćirić of the
Muzej grada Beograda deserves a very special thank you for his assistance. I ex-
tend my thanks also to Dubravka Pavlović and her colleagues at Juginus and to
the helpful staff at the Istorijski arhiv grada Beograda, the Arhiv Jugoslavije, the
Narodna biblioteka Srbije, the Narodna in univerzitetna knjižica in Slovenia, the
Republički zavod za statistiku in Serbia, the Institut za arhitekturu i urbanizam
Srbije, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Finally, I would like to express
my gratitude to Goran Antonić, Dušan Bajagić, Miloš Ković, Lana Marković,
Slobodan Selinić, Igor Tchoukarine, and other friends who enriched the year I
lived in Belgrade both personally and professionally.
ix