Pedestrian-Friendly Belgrade

During the 70s, Belgrade was developed in line with other prominent European capitals. This particularly refers to the creation of pedestrian zones in the city center similar to those that at that time appeared in Paris, Munich, and Vienna. The idea of creating a pedestrian zone in the center of Belgrade emerged in the early 70s and was formally defined in the General urban plan from 1972, and later in the Regulatory Plan for the Central Zone of Belgrade from 1977. The first pedestrian zone along Knez Mihailova Street was opened to pedestrians in October 1988. By mid-2010, the majority of the planned interventions which had contributed to forming the pedestrian zone in the center of city were finished, and the next phase of extending it to the river waterfronts began. Following the recommendations for sustainable urban development and the introduction of a new green hierarchy of urban transport, current development trends in Belgrade favor the further expansion of the pedestrian zones to the banks of the Sava and Danube. This chapter presents an overview of past and current efforts to apply the principles of sustainable development and create pedestrian-friendly areas in Belgrade in the area defined as Belgrade Central Zone. This zone covers four city cores: the central core of Belgrade, the central core of New Belgrade, the central core of Zemun and Sava amphitheaters. In accordance with that, the chapter features important ongoing projects and shows the development process of pedestrian areas in Belgrade, as well as the sustainability of the concept from the 70s.