Grand Prix for the Green Infrastructure Strategy of the City of Belgrade at the Salon of Landscape Architecture

21/06/25

At the XI International Salon of Landscape Architecture, held at the Gallery of Science and Technology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 12 to 27 June 2025, the Green Infrastructure Strategy of the City of Belgrade was awarded the Grand Prix.

Green infrastructure is the last line of defense of the ecological integrity and character of the urban landscape of Belgrade against the inevitable “ante portas” climate change and urbanization processes, but also the first line of defense of the profession and science of landscape architecture. Achieving this task requires joint action of institutions, professionals and residents in order to preserve and develop a stable defensive formation, which is precisely what the Strategy provides.

The Belgrade Green Infrastructure Strategy is a public policy document adopted in December 2024 by the Belgrade City Assembly as the representative body of the city’s local government. The Strategy, with its accompanying Action Plan, establishes goals, measures, institutional framework and financing models for the preservation and improvement of green infrastructure elements through the context of planning, design, construction and maintenance, for the period from 2025 to 2032.

The development of the public policy was commissioned and financed by the Secretariat for Environmental Protection of the City of Belgrade, and the executor of the subject work is the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Forestry.

The strategy was published in the Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade and in the form of a publication.

The process of developing the Strategy was implemented by a synthesis and expert team consisting of Boris Radić, Anica Teofilović, Dragan Vujićić, Darinka Radojević, Suzana Gavrilović, Đurđa Petrov, Sinisa Polovina, Milena Vukmirović, Slavica Čepić, Jelena Beloica, Dragana Čavlović, Vladan Popović, Mirjana Jovanović, Andreja Tutundžić, Jelena Jovanović, Nevenka Galečić, Vladimir Milutinović, Aleksandra Gajić Protić, Jovan Kovačević, and Ana Vuković Vimić, with the assistance of students of the landscape architecture study programs Marija Jakovljević, Tamara Stojiljković, Maria Aicholzer, Veljko Maletić, Anželike Popstefanov, Svetlana Đurić, Nastasja Latković, Jelena Živković, Nikolina Svilar, and Nađa Nikić.

In 2023, the City of Belgrade formed a Working Group for the Development of the Green Infrastructure Strategy of the City of Belgrade, composed of representatives of the City Administration, institutions, organizations and civil society, whose assistance during all stages of the document development was immeasurable, for which the Strategy Development Manager thanks them.

“The value of this work is not only in its content, but in the fact that it opens up the possibility of systemic change in urban practice and affirms landscape architecture as a discipline that formulates responses to key social challenges. For this reason, the jury recognizes this strategy as a model for other urban environments in Serbia and the region, as well as a precedent in institutional recognition of the role of green infrastructure in strategic city management.” (from the report of the jury of the Landscape Architecture Salon)

Photo by: Marko Nikolajević