Structural Changes and Urban Transformations-Accidental Housing Revival, Case Study of Niš, Serbia

Abstract: This master thesis is intended as a contribution to the understanding of the influencestructural changes has on urban transformation in housing domain, by focusing onmechanisms behind the upgrading as accidental model for regeneration of the collectivehousing. In particular, the aim is to do so in relation to a comparison between differentoperational scales on which process is carried out. The process is investigated at the city,neighborhood and street/square scale. With the use of qualitative methods, such asinterviews, in depth analysis of policies and regulations and observations, differences inmanifestation of the regeneration on different scales are discovered. It is suggested thatundefined strategy, indifferent attitude of local authorities, inconsistent legislativeenvironment, disconnection between the operational scales and presence of the market asessential driving force of the process, results in asymmetric outcomes of upgrading, both inphysical and social terms. But on the other hand, in respect to wider political and economicalenvironment in which regeneration happened, it is acknowledged that considerable housingstock is renovated and living standards are improved. The most critical issue in the process isproved to be the uneven awareness of the importance of the regeneration among the actorsat different scales and consequently their performance in respect to it. Furthermore,influence of upgrading on the community life and social relation in the regeneratedneighborhoods are totally neglected, which has for its consequences decreased use ofcommon space between the buildings and erosion of existed communities. It is proved alsothat fully market driven regeneration has rather regressive consequences on urbantransformation in context of Nis but in same time gives valuable lessons for improvement ofthe future upgrading as regeneration model for collective housing. Based on these lessons,adaptive policy changes are suggested and platform for further studies in system or processoriented urban regeneration and design is established. Thesis is organized as follows: firstmethodological approach is explained, second it situate problem in wider regional and localcontext in respect to urban transformation and housing trends, third thesis discuss analysisof operational scales and conclude with final cross-scale discussion and potentials for furtherresearch.