BELGRADE URBAN OASIS: SHAPING THE INTEGRATIVE NODE(S) FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL
SUSTAINABILITY
Professor Dr. Aleksandra Stupar

The presentation is focused on one of the sites targeted by the Belgrade Urban Oases project
(2024/2025), launched by the EUNIC Cluster Fund Initiative (Serbia). Implemented in collaboration
with the Belgrade International Architecture Week (BINA), the University of Belgrade - Faculties of
Architecture and Forestry and several local organisations, the initiative was guided by the idea of
transformation and upgrading of neglected urban areas into inclusive nodes of multileveled
interaction, with increased environmental and social value. The project included three sites with a
potential of becoming hubs of creativity, community cohesion and ecological awareness, and the
case of the Drop in Shelter for the Street Children is selected as an example of the conducted
process.
Leading toward sustainable green transition, the project for this site was based on situated,
participative and action-oriented design, combining artistic interventions, biophilic principles, the
elements of circular economy/recycling and community engagement with student collaboration and
professional support. Based on the ideas of co-creation, co-production and co-benefits, the
implemented oasis demonstrates the power of smaller interventions in achieving societal and
environmental change while establishing a new hub for social inclusion of vulnerable/marginalised
groups.
The presentation also highlights the main theoretical drivers of the project, as well as the phases of
conceptualisation, design and implementation. Stimulating exploration, play and learning during the
application of art, ecology, recycling and digitalisation, the popularity of this oasis has been raised
and the different groups of users have become connected. Their personal experiences of space and
its natural elements contribute to the overall environmental awareness, while the oasis becomes a
potential role model for the activation of similar underused spaces.