SARAJEVO

 

Sarajevo is the capital and the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Located at the heart of the Dinaric Alps, the city has developed in the eponymous valley of Sarajevo crossed from East to West by the Miljacka river. Formerly known as the “Jerusalem of Europe”, Sarajevo embraces a great ethnic and religious diversity and is home to three main communities: Bosniaks (Muslims), Serbs (Christian Orthodox) and Croats (Catholics).

However, today the city is divided as a result of the Bosnian War and the 1995 Dayton Agreements. These agreements defined a partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina into two distinct entities: the Republika Srpska, with a Serbian majority, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a Bosniak and Croat majority. Although it put an end to the war, this division, both physical and ideological, cannot be the basis for a lasting democracy in the country. Sarajevo was at the heart of the conflict and as such faces many political, urban and environmental issues in its post-war redevelopment.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a parliamentary state with a collective presidency representing the three “Constitutive Peoples”. This institutional organisation, one of the largest in the world, has 14 governments and 180 ministers. Any political decision requires the agreement of the three presidencies and thus, the political system hampers economical growth as the unemployment rate above 40% can attest. This has favoured the rise of a parallel informal economy and the general brain drain of young qualified people.It can also be noted that Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to join the European Union in the upcoming years. To complete its candidature, the country must initiate socio-economic reforms to create jobs and achieve a better record for human rights. It also has to offer better services for citizens, namely in the domains of health care, transportation and housing. The purpose of this request is to stabilise the country in order to avoid the excesses of the past and ensure a more sustainable economic growth.

 

In addition to predominant political and economic issues, Sarajevo also faces urban and environmental issues in regards to its existing and future development. The topographical and hydrological constraints have historically conditioned the development of the city. Like numerous cities in Europe, its urban fabric has evolved according to the different urban phases successively orchestrated by public authorities. Sarajevo is composed of a superposition of different architectural typologies and public spaces that have developed over time. It includes religious buildings of the Ottoman period, symmetric cultural and administrative buildings of the Austro-Hungarian period, residential towers characteristic of the communist era as well as office towers and shopping malls seen as more contemporary.

 

The history of Sarajevo illustrates the city’s expansion in a linear manner along the Miljacka river towards the western Polje area. Important agricultural lands are located in the Polje given that its soil is very fertile due to its connection to groundwater. Its economic potential attracts numerous urban and peri-urban agriculture projects. In addition to the Polje, the city has also seen an important urban expansion on the slopes of the valley due to the post-war demographic pressure linked to the displacement of internal refugees. Informal settlements proliferated in precarious areas at high runoff risks. The severe floodings in May 2014 raised the question of the unsustainable expansion of Sarajevo, in both the Polje and the outer mountainous regions of Sarajevo. Although offering numerous advantages on the economic front, water proves to be a challenge for the future development of the city. Sarajevo needs to rethink its urban strategies in order to include them in a more sustainable vision.

 

Moreover pollution seems to be an important issue for the city. It is therefore necessary to question the use of coal amongst others as a primary energy source and consider cleaner energy alternatives. The city must also tackle the issue of mobility in order to decrease its pollution levels. Presently, Sarajevo is serviced by a public transportation system composed of trams, trolleys, buses and mini-buses, even rendering small neighbouring communities accessible. In the years to come, the city will see new large scale infrastructure projects such as the Trans-European corridor linking Budapest to Ploce through Sarajevo, a new prison meeting european standards as well as a contemporary art museum and an opera house.

 

Despite recent initiatives, the city still struggles with ethnic division as many sectors of the society are spatially and socio-economically fragmented. Places of worship are often located near schools, especially among the Catholic and the Orthodox religions. Cemeteries have also developed according to ethnic divisions. Although there was originally three distinct types of cemeteries, Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox, the abundance of dead and the urgency to bury during the war gave way to a new type of cemetery with mixed ethnicity.

 

It can also be said that the education sector has become the new “battlefield” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, dividing the population from an early age. Nevertheless, encouraged by an international will, a unified school system tends to be set in place in order to restore peace and tolerance in the country.

 

Finally, sports also play an important role for the inhabitants of Sarajevo. It is the symbol of inter-community divisions but also a mean of reconciling people. The 1984 Winter Olympic Games brought in many public and transportation infrastructure projects, including an airport and a railway station, which strengthened the existing efficient transportation network of the city.

 

Despite its divided past, Sarajevo appears to be a city with a promising potential. This lies in the fact that its candidature to the European Union has motivated many institutional changes that impact every level of society. These initiatives also aim to bring more cohesion among Bosnia’s ethnic communities while providing basic services to all. Over the years, the Bosnian capital has attracted many private and public investors who intend to develop the city and its outskirts. Public authorities are focusing their urban strategy along two main axis. The first one is the promotion of agricultural production and development in the city and its periphery with a sustainable vision including essentially self-sufficient. The second axis is based on the international opening and the strengthening of accessibility to the city by creating infrastructures at a national and international scale.

 

It is also important to note that public authorities have the ambition to develop cultural institutions (opera, museum, …) and public spaces in order to encourage more homogeneity within the urban fabric and strengthen multiculturalism amongst its inhabitants while developing its local economy.