Planning in Serbia in the First Decade of 21st Century: Lessons from the Unsuccessful Story of Planning Society within Dysfunctional Democracy

Abstract

Serbia has undergone major societal turbulences over the past decades, including post-World War II reconstruction, nationalisation, constitutional changes, centrally planned and self-managed economies, decentralisation, the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and the transition to multi-party democracy and market economy. These shifts have strongly influenced the evolution of spatial and urban planning doctrine and practice. While by the mid-1980s the Serbian planning system was highly integrated and participatory, the 1990s brought fragmentation and incoherence, with planning weakened by negative political and economic conditions. Since 2000, democratic reforms and the National Spatial Plan of Serbia (2010) have aimed to modernise the system, but implementation remains hampered by politicisation, conflicting professional cultures, corruption, and weak institutional capacity. The paper concludes that planning laws themselves are less problematic than the flawed processes and societal circumstances that undermine their application. Institutional reform and stronger mechanisms against corruption are identified as crucial steps toward establishing an effective and operational planning practice in Serbia.