Mihailo Mitkovic

Current strategies of urban and architectural conversion as a result of increased housing demands

Preliminary notes In the contemporary world of social and demographic changes that continuously transform and intensify the housing demands, the exploitation of existing building fund for the development of new residential environment could be a sustainable solution to the problem of overcrowding in the cities. Conversion of obsolete buildings that are out of their primary functions to residential facilities is one of the current methods of highly-urbanized areas revitalization. Since the conversion is only one of the possible methods of urban renewal, because more radical measures of building demolition and land conversion are very often applied, it is necessary to analyse the quality and suitability of this approach. The paper points out the advantages of building conversion implementation in the field of housing and explores the general characteristics of the current local and international strategies of conversion and urban regeneration.

Current state and perspective of water management policy in terms of climate change: Case study of the Velika Morava River

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to set out the policy guidelines and recommendations to harmonise the Serbian water legislation with European Union standards in the area of water system management as impacted by climate change. Design/methodology/approach The EU Water Framework Directive is analysed in the context of implementation of the integrated water management policy presented in the Serbian Water Law (2010), as well as the National Water Management Strategy (2016). It has been found that the water management legislation that deals with the impact of climate change on water resources is incomplete. Although there are numerous challenges related to research of climate change and water systems, water policy and legal aspects cannot be neglected. The so-called soft law instruments represented in a form of strategy documents could be a valuable response in terms of an adaptive and integrated water policy approach. Findings The research is applied to a case study of the Velika Morava River Basin, at Ljubicevski Most hydrological station. Long-term projections suggest a decrease in annual precipitation levels and annual flows up to the year 2100 for climatic scenarios A1B and A2, accompanied by a rapid increase in air temperatures. Originality/value This study proposes a water management policy and provides recommendations for the Velika Morava River Basin as impacted by climate change, according to the European Union legislation.

Urban green areas planning and development: An assessment of general urban plans of the City of Nis

Urban green areas have multiple roles in cities and to a large extent they determine the quality and livability of urban space. The process of urbanization has led to an increase in construction in cities and reduction of open public spaces, especially green areas. Planning of urban green areas is an integral part of urban planning, thus changes in planning and development of urban green areas can be observed through urban planning documents. The main question is whether the loss of green areas is a consequence of non-compliance with plans, or the reason for this lies in the method of planning of green areas. In order to answer this question the paper discusses: functions, standards and classification of urban green areas in general, and their use in two successive general urban plans of the city of Nis in the last twenty years, as a prerequisite for the development of green areas in accordance with growing need for green areas in the city.