Sten Engelstoft

Remaking Sarajevo: Bosnian nationalism after the Dayton Accord

Abstract The task of rebuilding a city after war-time destruction can take many forms. In addition to the obvious signs of refurbishment and new buildings, there are more subtle forms of renewal involving a re-creation of the city’s identity and changes to its inhabitants’ views of the world. For Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Hercegovina, the cessation of the struggle for control of the city, involving various ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia, has brought about several forms of renewal, many of which have been closely related to the altered political status of Bosnia. This paper investigates ways in which the changing face of Sarajevo is associated with attempts to establish the state of Bosnia and Hercegovina subsequent to the signing of the Dayton Accord that guaranteed some measure of security to Sarajevo and to Bosnia itself. In particular, manifestations of a growing Bosnian nationalism are analysed in the context of the new state’s attempts to establish a clear identity within the deeply disturbed geopolitical setting of the former Yugoslavia. Special attention is given to the renaming of many streets within Sarajevo and to the symbolism on the newly-issued banknotes. Consideration is given to theories of nationalism and to the manifestations of nationalism in the specific context of the former Yugoslavia. There is particular focus upon the position of the Bosnian Muslims in the newly-established state and the emergence of a Bosnian nationalist agenda.

The End of Urbanization?: Towards a New Urban Concept or Rethinking Urbanization

Urban growth and development have always been associated with specific nodes in an urban system. This association, however, does not make much sense in a world where the functional areas of many large cities have merged to form continuous urban landscapes. When more than 85% of a countrys population is urbanized, the process of urbanization as commonly understood has come to an end, so that traditional means of analysis no longer suffice. Within a Danish context, this paper discusses limits to traditional urban analyses based on individual urban places and an urban rural dichotomy. It argues for the use of an alternative concept related to localization within a larger urban landscape and goes on to demonstrate how the pattern of urban growth in Denmark over the last 25 years may be explained by increasing mobility and improved access to labour markets.

Planning for the 21st Century

Engelstoft, Sten: Planning for the 21st Century. Geografisk Tidsskrift 92:48–53. Copenhagen 1992. This paper attempts to develop some questions relating to the future of European cities. It has three key elements: (1) an evaluation of the renewed and increasing interest in urban problems, (2) an identification of the main trends and problems associated with the future functions ofour cities andfinally, within this framework (3) an evaluation of the possible links between science and technology on the one hand and cities on the other.

Land and Building Values Development Cycles of the Built Environment

Danish Journal of Geography 95: 59–70, 1995. The present paper examines the relationship between developments within the built environment and the land (sites) on which they are situated. It has four parts: Firstly, problems related to an urban concept as well as the concept of a “built environment” are examined. Physical as well as economic lifetime of urban structures are considered in relation to urban land, and problems related to the urban land market are discussed. It is concluded that—as urban land is socially produced and has a fixed location which is inseparable from the buildings located on it—specific problems arise when the buildings decay. Secondly, problems with respect to industrial restructuring and the built environment, particularly in the Copenhagen area, are reviewed. Thirdly, an idealized model of the development cycles of the built environment is presented and a number of individual empirical examples are examined in relation to the model. Finally, it is concluded that the changing r...

Urban-Industrial restructuring and the built environment

Engelstoft, Sten: Urban-Industrial restructuring and the built environment. Geografisk Tidsskrift 88:21–27. Copenhagen 1988. The present paper has a research programme concerning industrial areas in Metropolitan Copenhagen (the “SKEA” project, StorKobenhavnske ErhvervsArealer) as its starting point. Within the framework of the paper, a brief description of the relationship between urban renewal and social development is given, and a method to estimate the potential possibilities of redevelopment, using the relationship between building value and land value, is presented.

Urban land-use in the Core Area of Medium-sized Danish towns

Engelstoft. Sten: Urban land-use in the Core-Area of Medium-sized Danish towns. Geografisk Tidsskrift 84: 47–50. Copenhagen. January 1984. The paper attempts to discuss the dual relationship between urban land-use changes and the social processes: examples from two medium-sized Danish towns are demonstrated.