Post-socialist context of culture-led urban regeneration - Case study of a street in Novi Sad, Serbia

In West European cities, culture has evolved to become a crucial ingredient of regeneration projects, in which stakeholders' cooperation is of utmost importance and economic and social benefits are often well balanced. In contrast, the majority of second-tier Central and East European cities, primarily non-holders of the European Capital of Culture title, still seem to struggle with clearly defining the relationship between culture and urban regeneration, precisely determining the responsibilities of the key actors and making the distinction between social and economic goals in regeneration projects. In this paper, the authors join the emerging discussion on the post-socialist context of culture-led regeneration through a case study of a street in the old core of Novi Sad, Serbia. In an effort to contribute to understanding various challenges that Serbian cities have been facing since the fall of communism, they seek to identify cultural effects of a very distinctive process of transition. They also investigate the interplay between the citizens' cultural preferences, visions of urbanity, private sector's interests and usage of urban space, and discuss the impacts of spontaneous utilization versus exploitation of space and culture. Furthermore, they analyse the outcomes of culture-led transformation conducted in the absence of cultural strategies and in-depth regeneration policies and marked by the laisser-faire attitude of the local authorities. Having completed the analysis, the authors propose the means for redefining the relationship between culture and regeneration in second-tier Serbian cities, yet also in other CEE cities of similar size, emphasizing the role of culture, responsibilities of the local authorities, significance of bottom-up approaches and relevance of place context.