
Meet Belgrade!
Belgrade is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the World. One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region and, after 279 BC, Celts settled the city, naming it Singidūn. It was conquered by the Romans under the reign of Augustus and awarded Roman city rights in the mid-2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire, the Frankish Empire, the Bulgarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Hungary before it became the seat of the Serbian king Stefan Dragutin in 1284. Belgrade served as capital of the Serbian Despotate during the reign of Stefan Lazarević, and then his successor Đurađ Branković returned it to the Hungarian king in 1427. Noon bells in support of the Hungarian army against the Ottoman Empire during the siege in 1456 have remained a widespread church tradition to this day. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo. It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.
In the period after the Serbian Revolution, Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when it was attached to the city, due to former Austro-Hungarian territories becoming part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War I. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918 to its dissolution in 2006. In a fatally strategic position, the city has been battled over in 115 wars and razed 44 times, being bombed five times and besieged many times. Today, one of the characteristics of the city terrain is mass wasting. On the territory covered by the General Urban Plan there are 1,155 recorded mass wasting points, out of which 602 are active and 248 are labeled as the ‘high risk’. They cover almost 30% of the city territory and include several types of mass wasting.
City Population
Demo Area Population
City Area - Ha
Demo Area - Ha
About Ada, Kalemegdan fortress and Košutnjak forest
Demo site 1 (ex-river island Ada Ciganlija – Ada) and the neighboring riverfront promenades on both sides of the Sava river, have been developed and are continuously being upgraded as the prime location for recreation, healing and soothing, and leisure activities of Belgrade citizens and visitors. With numerous BGS assets, they often attract several tens of thousands of visitors daily.
Demo site 2 (Kalemegdan fortress and surrounding parka) located in the heart of the old city is now fully integrated with this central pedestrian zone. It consists of the historic fortress and is appreciated for both its invaluable historic and cultural heritage routes, mediation spots, and a stunning view overlooking the confluence of the Sava river and the European second biggest river Danube). It is close eye-sight of the nature reserve wonder, river island “Veliko Ratno Ostrvo” (with over 180 bird species), an unbelievable “jungle” within 1 km from the city center. These sites attract thousands of tourists to its “Upper city” (Gornji Grad). Numerous shaded pedestrians and jogging pathways and cycling routes in the “Lower city” (Donji grad) along Sava and Danube riverbanks are very attractive to “busy” Belgrade’s citizens, who, take a short healthy battery charging escape.
Site 3 (Košutnjak „city forest/wilderness“) close to the city center is famous for its numerous shaded pedestrian, jogging, exercising, forest trails“, especially during hot days, when it is considerably cooler than in the city center.
Health-Social-Environmental Facts
Belgrade faces many health and social problems due to the ageing or/and the incomplete infrastructure (sanitation, lack of Waste Water Treatment, narrow street etc.) resulting in air/water and soil pollution, noise, etc. Direct consequences are lowering PH and WB for all citizens and visitors. The estimate is that 1,700 premature deaths/year linked to poor AQ (high PM2.5 concentrations) and UHI effects. Social issues are the high unemployment rate, brain drain (young professionals leaving the country) and stress-related aggressive behaviour. Moreover, there are approx. 7,000 registered asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, but even more are unregistered. Our partner Mikser has organized assistance and social integration for approx. 1,000 refugees in the Refugee Aid Centre (Miksalište). Several other vulnerable groups (homeless, jobless, disabled, etc.) embraced these activities, showing the way how some of the local social issues, such as inequality or exclusion of social groups can be addressed by engaging the citizens in the right way.
Ada Ciganlija is attractive as the recreation and sport activity for a broad spectrum of Belgrade citizens and visitors:
- People who have established their living and high standard of exercise find Ada Ciganlija as an attractive place for various sporting activities
- Water sports (swimming, rowing, water skiing, diving
- Cycling, walking, small sports, and forest footing
People with a lower income who cannot afford to spend their annual vacation at distant locations often spend a great deal of their annual vacation at Ada which is popularly called the sea of Belgrade.
Already implemented measures in the city and the upscaling concept
Ada Ciganlija is attractive as the recreation and sport activity for a broad spectrum of Belgrade citizens and visitors:
- People who have established their living and high standard of exercise find Ada Ciganlija as an attractive place for various sporting activities
- Water sports (swimming, rowing, water skiing, diving
- Cycling, walking, small sports, and forest footing
Ada Ciganlija was proposed as a demo site because of the broad variety of BGS facilities on both left and right banks of the Sava river and Ada itself.
- Big artificial lake with clean water, more stable water level
- Walking and cycling pathway about seven kilometers long on the lake’s perimeter
- Variety of sports fields, cycling routes, jogging paths on the (river) island
- Robinson Crusoe-like small island Ada Međica and significant sanctuary from the busy, urban, noisy environment
- Excellent links with public transportation
- The huge area of natural forest
However, there are parts of Ada which are “in the need of improvement” which will be used by HEART planners for the future extrapolation of its innovative HCPM based methodology.
Košutnjak is a well-established location for the recreation of citizens, it is very rich in conventional walking pathways, trim paths. HEART project will use it for its positive impacts on people’s health and drawing conclusions on possible added value in dense urban recreational forest.
Kalemegdan is located in the city’s heart, very popular for both residents and tourists. It is famous as a destination for the elderly’s short health route, convenient for its location, which can be reached by foot.
HEART project will look for the options for carefully added value with traditional content which is protected as a cultural heritage.
The experience gained from these three locations will be used for proposing (extrapolating) future plans to other three locations: Veliko Ratno Ostrvo (an urban jungle-like island close to the city center); comprehensive park Ušće and Linear Park.
The experience gained in HEART will be combined with the results in monitoring in euPOLIS and developing advanced NBS/BGS planning guidelines.
People with a lower income who cannot afford to spend their annual vacation at distant locations often spend a great deal of their annual vacation at Ada which is popularly called the sea of Belgrade.
City News
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Deep Environmental Probing – The Network of Sensors is Being Planted in our Demo Cities
Our HEART partners recently started installing the environmental sensors that will back up the upcoming clinical study
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HEART Project in Mišović Magazine
Our DRM team recently published an article about the HEART project in their internal hospital journal "Mišovic Magazine".
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How Urban Environment Affects Children’s Health
On September 9, a national symposium "Cough in children" was held in the organization of KBC "Dr. Dragiša MIšović-Dedinje"