Cultural Studies paper by Aladžić, Viktorija
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Subotica

Civic Participation in Saving Szabadka’s (Subotica) Building Heritage

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Szabadka (Subotica), located near the Hungarian border in Serbia, was part of Hungary until the First World War. The town developed its specific character during the 19th century, and was able to preserve it to the present day. Owing to socio–political changes and urban plans made according to communist ideology in the period after the Second World War, until the 1980’s, the value and importance of 19th century buildings heritage was not recognized. There was, however, a period of recognition of the importance of 19th century Szabadka building heritage just before the Yugoslav war started in 1991. Because of the struggle for survival during the war the care for building heritage was again forgotten. Recently a small group of people organized and devoted themselves to preserve Subotica’s building heritage and specific town character. Through a number of activities they managed to draw attention of a great number of citizens to the importance of their identity and valuable building heritage. This presentation will focus on the efforts, objectives and achievements of a small group of citizens who named themselves “Smile at Subotica” (Nasmeši se Subotici -- Mosolyogj Szabadkára), to raise awareness and change behavior in creating he future for Szabadka’s building heritage.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Viktorija Aladžić is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, in addition to being an architect, an urban planner, and an expert in protection and restoration of architectural heritage. She received her Master degree (2001) in Technical Sciences – in protection, revitalization and study of building heritage, and her PhD degree in Spatial Planning, at the University of Belgrade, in 2007. Her research reports include “Optimization of architectural and urban planning and design in function of sustainable development in Serbia”, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Serbia.