Rethinking Globalism: Case of transforming old cities

Edited by

Şengül Öymen Gür

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i/ii

Foreword 1/4

Şengül Öymen Gür

Transformation in Transforming Lands 10/41

Şengül Öymen Gür

Architectural Heritage of Sarajevo-Bosnia and Herzegovina 42/62

Ahmet Hadrovıć

Urban Interfaces of Skenderıja, Sarajevo 63/71

Pavle Krstić

Intersections: Urban Form and Public Space 72/92

Nihad Čengıć

The Architecture of Syncretism: Culture as Context in Housing 93/117

Rajka Mandić

Life and Form Interrelationships of House in a Transforming Society 118/132

Lejla Kreševljaković

Revitalization of The Old City of Počıtelj 133/167

Vjekoslava Sanković-Simčić

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As a positive corollary of globalization, coming decades will experience intense international

collaboration among architects and planners. In face of this reality as a preliminary experience

architectural students from Sarajevo University Faculty of Architecture-Bosnia-Herzegovina and

students from Karadeniz technical University Faculty of Architecture-Turkey realized a joint

workshop in the Fall Term of 2007. Accommodation, travel expenses were all supported by TIKA

(Turkish Collaboration and Development Agency) founded for joint projects between Turkey and

other developing countries. The project was initiated by Prof. Dr. Şengül Öymen Gür and Res.

Assist. Halil İbrahim Düzenli. Associate Professor Ali Asasoğlu, Assistant Professor Ömer İskender

Tuluk and research assistants Evrim Düzenli and Fulya Üstün represented the Turkish team. Prof.

Dr. Ahmet Hadrovıć, Prof. Dr. Rajka Mandıć, Assistant Professor Nıhad Čengıć, Research

Assistants Pavle Krstıć, Lejla Babıć-Kreševljaković and Hajra Helać formed the Bosnia-

Herzegovia team of collaborators.

The title of the term project was determined as “Syncretistic Settlements (mahala) in Trabzon and

Sarajevo”. The Purpose of the project was discovering the values embedded in traditional housing

and settlements, as well as the changes taking place in the attitudes of people towards their nests

and modernizing styles of living so as to design syncretistic housing environments. “Syncretistic” in

this sense is that which combines cultural values and modern needs and comfort requirements.

After Rapoport a strong epistemological conviction which pervades architecture is that cultures

build their environments in the most convenient style over time. Their world view and cosmological

beliefs determine their use of space along with their production and subsistence behavior. However

all such settlements of the world have been undergoing fundamental changes due to the all

encompassing and influential modes of modernization-once, and globalization-now. Nonetheless

societies are not content with the life-accelerating affects of technology and its consequences such

as individualization, isolation, alienation and feelings of nihilism. They express nostalgia for their

deep rooted values, both social and physical.

In conformity with these preconceptions students were offered sites from respective countries and

each side visited the other for information gathering purposes. In this particular design project

students from Turkey observed and analyzed the Bosnia-Herzegovina traditional houses of

Sarajevo, Travnik, Mostar and Poçitel; tried to read and depict human behavior in the past;

interviewed people from Sarajevo in order to understand what values people attach to these houses,

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and whether or not these values still persist. They had to do sightseeing, sketching, drawing and re-

elevating. They had to render street forms and compile the results of interviews and questionnaires.

A similar study was carried out by the Sarajevo students in Trabzon. Students spent apposite time

on studying the sites, did historical tracing, topographical featuring; noted climatic priorities and

tried to figure out the wisdom of the past builders. Producing alternatives, choosing among them

and developing the projects were carried out in the native countries. In these joint workshops 50

persons, 38 students and 12 instructors participated.

Projects were exhibited at the 3rd LIVENARCH (LIVable ENvironmets and ARCHitecture)

congress held in Trabzon Turkey between the 5th-7th of July 2007 and a grand exhibition was held at

the Turkish Embassy’s Turkish House in Sarajevo under the auspices of the Turkish Ambassador H.

E. Bülent Tulun, enriched with a lecture given at the opening, by Prof. Dr. Şengül Öymen Gür on

the “Traditional Houses of the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey”. During the exhibition

introduced was the book titled “An Architectural Experience: Neighborhood in Trabzon and

Sarajevo (Jedan Graditeljski Pokušaj: Mahale U Trabzonu I Sarajevu” which was published

by contributions of various sections of Turkish Chamber of Architects, Trabzon Municipality, and

the governor of Trabzon. It interpreted the lateral experiences and illustrated the projects of both

sides and had a tremendous affect on the visitors.

This book you are holding is a by-product of these wonderful experiences and thought exchanges

between the professors of both sides. These constructive and imaginative contacts gave way to the

deliberation that world harbored many other old and traditional cities established upon the harmony

of social and individual benefits and that these cities were most prone to undesirable changes

imposed upon by modernization wishes and monitory possibilities. Individualities and

commonalities of cities under investigation surfaced in the productive and refreshing arguments of

professors of architecture and urban design of both sides. Decision was to be able to discuss the

emerging views with others who could be involved in transformation, preservation and restoration

projects in developing countries pending between preserving identity and taking advantage of

comforts offered by high technologies, and concepts such as standardization, mass production

which ultimately led to homogenization of human life and its containers.

Neither the collaboration of two cultures nor this book could have been possible without the help of

many institutions and people and it is a pleasure to thank those who supported and assisted me in

bringing the project to fruition. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to contributing authors

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as well as the illustrators and photographers who generously allowed their work to be published

here.

I am very grateful to the management of TIKA (Turkish Collaboration and Development Agency),

Nuri Okutan-the governor of Trabzon, Volkan Canalioğlu-the mayor of Trabzon, Turkish Chamber

of Architects, Bülent Tulun-the Turksih Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nermin Ljusta-

director of the Turkish House in Sarajevo, Yalçın Yaşar-the head of the Faculty of Architecture,

KTU and Ahmet Hadrovıć-the dean of Sarajevo Faculty of Architecture who paved the way to this

book and last but not the least to my assistant Halil İbrahim Düzenli who put tremendous efforts at

all stages of this enterprise.

Şengül Öymen Gür

March 12, 2009-Trabzon

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FOREWORD The process of modernization and the development of modern societies has been a double-edged

sword for both the developed and developing societies. Transformation of all the aspects of human

life-economic, social, and cultural-since the midst of the 18th century has brought about freedom

and happiness as well as anxiety in many respects. Modernization freed mankind geographically,

intellectually and spiritually but ironically this very freedom, displaying unprecedented possibilities

has been responsible for a lot of anxiety and stress by cutting the umbilical cord of tradition in all

spheres of life. Sense of identity, sense of place, the comforts and security of a familiar milieu have

gradually vanished. The ideals of modernization such as efficiency, competence, standardization,

rationalization have brought about uniformity and homogenization versus the traditional unity in

diversity.

This went well until the third quarter of the 20th century when modern buildings and city planning

principles came under scrutiny from academic, scientific and public quarters. By this time several

generations of people had spent their lives under modern conditions. Life was made more efficient

at the expense of demolishing old quarters of cities, i.e. Bronx, Boston West End, the culturally

effective domains. Human scientists like Margret Mead, Jane Jacobs and Susan Keller rendered

valuable and illuminating criticsm. Research associations like EDRA and IAPS contributed

enourmously to the awakening of the urban design professionals. It was realized that internationally

appraised models of urban planning and architecture were not universally suitable at the face of

varying resources, geographic conditions, values and life styles of societies. This sequel encouraged

researchers to look into their heritage which at the physical level embodied architectural wisdom

with regard to orientation, climate, massing, building materials and techniques, and at the spiritual

level, attunement with life styles, unifying social and cultural aspirations of the individual and the

community.

But practice defeated its purpose in many societies: Life styles had already gone under tremendous

changes due to the replacement of crafts-based societies with the industrializing ones. Desire to

modernize and advent of new building materials boosted socio-culturally unrelated patterns of

urbanization and architecture. The consequences were unprecedented growth of urban populations

below subsistence level, increased use of resources versus depleting natural resources. “To add to

this dilemma, our traditional cultural heritage does not appeal to the younger generation, since it

does not symbolically or culturally belong to them… As against the traditional solutions which

respond to the socio-cultural-economic ethos besides local resources and climate, designers have

opted for techniques and forms propagated by the new technology manifest in the international

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style” says Doshi (1997, p16-17). According to Salingaros and Mikiten (2002; p.195) Darwinian

selection “explains why non-adaptive minimalist forms have been so successful at proliferating.

The reason is because they act like simple biological entities such as viruses, which replicate much

faster than do more complex life forms”.

As a rule, “social responsibility and adherence to regional physical conditions and cultural values

take the backseat, for fear of losing commissions…The conflict now is between the “old” which

was one’s own, and the “new” which is apparently different and therefore impressive” are brilliant

remarks made by Doshi (op.cit; p.17)

Paul Ricoeur had already warned us in his Universal Civilization and National Cultures-1961;

“…every culture cannot sustain and absorb the shock of modern civilization. There is the paradox:

how to become modern and to return to sources; how to revive an old, dormant civilization and take

part in universal civilization”.

Besides, between the Orient and Occident apprehension of time, dimensions, topography,

natural/man-made is very different (Frampton, 1997). High rises destabilize the traditional

interrelationships of the natural and man-made; agricultural buildings are anachronistic and they

better be hybrid rather than completely high-tech; the demand for rationalized production tends to

shift the focus away from vernacular techniques such as load-bearing masonry whereas

technological maximization is antithetical to the creation of the place-form.

Nevertheless, in order to establish interstitial places within the continuum of non-places some

physical suggestions are made: “To build the site” is one proposed by Swiss architect Mario Botta,

meaning that the critical character of a given work is dependent on the covering and grounding

subtleties. Another is the sustenance of identity by incorporating socio-cultural patterns in

designing, and still another is continuity of traditional institutions, the success of which depends on

their social constructs. Spiritual unity with the past is suggested by some theorists in connection

with Louis Kahn’s legacy that a good design must include tangibles and intangibles, the physical

and spiritual or symbolic.

On the other hand, sense of place assumes that the place has distinctive qualities proper to a region.

In an exceedingly uniting, borderless world is it possible to define a region? In the face of growing

globalism and its universalizing and enticing “memes” of form is it possible to preserve

idiosyncratic values once inherent in traditional settings? These are difficult questions to answer.

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But the essential spirit of human beings, compassions and the joys of family and community which

are vital for civilized life also, are least likely to undergo major changes. Therefore not in a manner

of mere imitation of the past built-environment but in an aim to restore the wholeness of our built

environment, to help to generate new visions of future transpiring from the excellence of the past is

urgently needed today, especially in developing nations.

Consensus on this prospect brought together a group of academic researchers each of which dwelled

upon a specific issue in connection with the goal. Sarajevo was chosen as a case due to its historical

and symbolical standing between the Orient and Occident for which she had sacrificed even lives.

Sarajevo is on the verge of major transformation therefore it requires immediate attention. For this

matter it sets an impeccable example to many other cities of the world facing similar conditions.

Therefore the purpose of this compilation does not merely deserve attention from the decision

makers of this specific city but deserves due attention of the decision makers diffuse settlements of

the world.

The text starts with “Transformation in Transforming Lands”. Şengül Öymen Gür views the

general aspects of Sarajevo from a phenomenological perspective and reinstates the importance of

identity and the sense of place created by the town and proposes a universal scheme for the

assessment of the psychological apprehension of the physical attributes of cities which she suggests,

should be strictly abided in transforming Sarajevo. Ahmet Hadrović’s account of “Sarajevo’s

Cultural Heritage” goes back to the Seljuks and the Ottomans and depicts physical and socio-

cultural influence of the Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians in Sarajevo. Urban development history

of Sarajevo and complications involved in the processes are expounded by Pavle Krstić in “Urban

Interfaces of Skenderıja, Sarajevo”. Nihad H. Cengic in his article titled “Intersections: Urban

Form and Public Space” discusses major issues such as (1) transition from more public orientated

society, toward more individual orientated society, and (2) transition from more planned economy,

toward more open economy and their influences in the shaping of the environment and suggests

rational and reliable ways of treatment and rehabilitation.

Rajka Mandic in “The Architecture of Syncretism: Culture as Context in Housing” poses the

unchanging and desirable aspects of the traditional houses which used to harmonize with the

essential needs of mankind against repetitive, banal and mundane housing of modernity which

disallow and defer any sincere evaluation by the subjugated populations. She puts a valuable effort

in suggesting syncretistic housing solutions which would also aid in sustaining of the identity of the

city. Lejla Kreševljaković renders a succinct description of the traditional houses of Sarajevo. She

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analyzes the present domestic needs of Sarajevo people and discusses their correspondence with

past forms of living. She corroborates and further enhances Rajka Mandic in her efforts.

Revitalization of The Old City of Počitelj is a magnificent account of the restoration and renovation

work administered and realized by the author, Vjekoslava Sanković-Simčić. Počitelj is a fairy-tale

like setting south-east of Sarajevo which stirs delight as an architectural heritage. In a book which

emphasizes the value of identity it is an excellent example of preserving identity and sense of place

and for this reason might very well shed light to other restoration works.

As the editor of these invaluable contributions, I owe great thanks to my dear colleagues who

believed in the significance of our mutual concern and co-operated with me fully. We wish to

believe that we have raised important issues concerning like cities and settlements which are also on

the verge of undergoing major changes and are to face serious character losses in immediate future.

Şengül Öymen Gür

March 12, 2009-Trabzon

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TRANSFORMATION IN TRANSFORMING LANDS

Şengül Öymen Gür

“No metaphor tells the whole story from all

sides, and hence no vision of the present, let alone the

future, can be complete or final”

Alvin Toffler, 1980; p.6

TRANSFORMATION

In his seminal work The Third Wave, Alvin Toffler brilliantly analyses our times and pronounces

that in order to fully appreciate the changes we are going through and manipulate the future

desirably one should grip that the third wave consists of a complex of colliding forces of multiple

waves. Therefore physical transformations, sequels of this worldwide conflicts and tensions are the

results and parts of these changes at the same time. Hence a full grasp of urban transformations

should be analyzed from this perspective for fuller appreciation. To put it into more concrete terms,

one could speak of universal/local interconnectedness of a multiplicity of waves, inter-national

collisions/solidarities, and resisting/creating new civilizations, national/international interest groups,

medium of disciplinary information flow, etc. in exploring physical transformations.

On the other hand it is professed on scientific grounds that all the existing cities of the world will go

under tremendous changes in the near future and several of them will grow into metropolitan scales,

some will probably depopulate. Some smaller size towns will increase in size and population. Some

experts allege to this as a positive sign of economic success. All these arguments indicate to an

overall physical transformation of the world’s geography.

Nevertheless the issue of transformation and embedded discourses must all be relegated to the

specific conditions of cities. Cities of the world differ in many respects such as geography, history

and culture and hence should be dealt with accordingly. The basic categorization which might ease

the discussions of this article is discrimination between the lifespan and longevity of cities.

Basically there are five types of cities from this viewpoint;

1. The very old, historic and unchanged cities, i.e. Rome, Prague, Amsterdam, Stockholm,

Yemen, Mardin, Safranbolu etc., where strict preservation laws are in effect and when a

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serious need for growth is felt a new and contemporary town is planned and built nearby. La

Defense of Paris sets a good example for this kind of solutions. So does the new “Modern”

Safranbolu.

2. The very old and historic but radically fractured and eradicated cities. Many swept away

cities from developing countries which have been unable to deregulate the impact of savage

capitalism are examples, i.e. cities in Turkey, Korea, Egypt, Syria, etc. In these cases despite

the planning laws and stipulations, speculative impulse has been uncontrollable and illegal

developments sparsely followed.

3. The very old and historic but partially devastated cities, i.e. Berlin, Munich, etc. These

cases are usually the products of wars. Some districts and neighborhoods of old towns are

totally eradicated by bombs and ensuing fires, etc., but the general aura of history remains.

4. The very old and historic cities on the verge of radical changes due to complex nature of

unexpected investments such as Tbilisi, Sarajevo etc, where potentials of foreign investments

are surging but the local governments are much too yielding, frail and vulnerable in their

choices due to the political, social and psychological repercussions of the wars.

5. “Modern and planned growth” cities, among many examples of which Rotterdam is

noteworthy.

In this article I will dwell upon the forth case, “the old and historic cities on the verge of radical

change” and try to suggest principles which, I believe, would be valuable in designing for

sustainable change.

In practice there are two fundamentally different approaches to transformation projects: 1. Modern,

2. Post-modern. Modern approaches ironically date back to the ancients who abided by the ideals of

antiquity which was later on taken up by the Renaissance architects, artists, priests and the

dilettanti. These ideals were reproduced in the artifacts by means of mathematics and geometry in

the Renaissance. The same geometry was revered by the Moderns for its qualities of order-

hierarchy, integration, and holism which altogether suggest the control of both the environment and

the society. In designing new towns and renovating old towns geometry proved equally practical as

ideal. Haussman as the father of the French trend of rebuilding towns was reflected in Bronx, St.

Petersburg, Vienna, Tel-Aviv and the like. Major highways as the most dominant geometry split the

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towns into two or more districts. Many neighborhoods were irrevocably torn down for this reason.

Adherence to Modern canons endures: Unter der Linden is on its way in Berlin. Invited projects for

the transformation of Haydarpaşa, Kartal and Pendik refer back to the idealism of Modern

Architecture, its purported vices, technological objectives. Much has been written on the negative

impact of Modernist designs on people. One of the major criticisms against Modernist views is the

sub-conscious desire for the control of space and that it is de-humanizing. There are researchers

who argue that humans are changing and that they are beginning to appreciate the use of their

perceptual systems as a whole rather than relying solely on their visual senses. This assertion

aggravates the negative criticism.

Buildings which have been erected after 1960s, especially the free standing business towers, trade

centers, museums etc., were criticized on the basis of fracturing the holistic appearance of urban

landscape and breaking with the traditional images of towns. Zoning principles which have been

applied since 1916s in New York was also picked apart by many valuable sociologists, architects

and non-architects. (Mead, Keller, Jacobs etc.). Design for the car instead of people has been

pointed out almost as a sin in urban literature (Sennett, Berman, and Harvey etc.). Refuge to non-

city idealism (or individualism) brought about urban sprawl and created meaningless mega-polis.

As a critical response to Modernism, Post-modern view emerged and was applied to transforming

cities. These views protract from the Viennese school of thought, namely from Camillo Sitte and

can be traced back to early Post-modern interventions, such as the master plan for Philadelphia, by

Louis Kahn, Market Street re-planning and design by Robert Venturi, Barbican Center of London,

Docks along the Thames and Pennsylvania Bay Area, Paris’s Old Market Place, Potsdamer Platz of

Berlin, to cite a few. Many smaller scale examples are ubiquitous. Basic Postmodern urban

discourses which were in one way or other followed in recent architectural and urban practice can

be outlined as follows:

Contextualism as “collage”

This attitude was fostered by Venturi and furthered by Rowe and Koettler who adopted Levi-

Strauss’s term of BRICOLAGE and derived the term “collage” from it. Collage is an endeavor to

give unity to a massive forest of meanings. It meant improvising; to design with the opportunities

and potentials offered by the immediate environment, compromising by testing the ideal types

inherited from the history of architecture with the existing empirical context of design. The designs

were all inclusive-integrative rather than exclusive; hence the vague Gestalt principles were

adjusted to elicit multiple meanings. At the urban design level the approach defended rich,

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surprising spaces, contradicting, conflicting spatial elements as opposed to the unifying and

stereotype designs of the Modern period.

Semantics and urban readings

Advance of Linguistic sciences their impact on urban design and Architecture has been great.

Barthes’s “Semiology of Urbanism, 1967” is a powerful book which suggests that city can be read

as a text and is an open ended text to which a multiplicity of meanings can be ascribed. However

“Learning from Las Vegas” by Venturi is not an innocent publication in that it is an effort to

legalize 20th Century America by defending market economy and architecture. A couple of un-

biased researchers such as Agrest and Gandelsonas, as well as many architectural and urban design

educators undermined this view. Starting with Edmund Bacon and Bernard Tschumi many young

researcher were preoccupied with the idea of studying towns with holograms and film techniques.

New Rationalism and Typology

On the other side of the ocean Aldo Rossi with his “The Architecture of the City” emphasized and

reinforced the relations between Architecture and place by going through the progress of social

constructs, laws and stipulations which created the past settlements with due emphasis on districts

of housing and housing typologies (small scale rationalism). This ended up in Tendenza movement

by enticing people like Carlo Aymonino, Giorgi Grassi etc. Leon Krier of Krier brothers made his

choice for the 18th century planning ideals which consisted of major geometries with plazas and

monuments. He proclaimed the re-acquisition of public spaces (large scale rationalism)

Discourses on Urban Outskirts

As opposed to Rossi’s discourses on center Rem Koolhas proposed architectural islands surrounded

with green, forests and lakes. This proposition is being realized in Berlin to some extent. In

connection with this Steven Holl’s idea of “anchoring” gains on meaning because both ideas are

inherent with strong border and demarcation notions.

.

Design Codes: The new American approach to urban design (Nesbitt, 1996)

Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk worked in detail and praised the traditional codes for a

coastal community. This contradicts the Edge City proposal of Rem Koolhas and is supported by

many Postmodernists.

Phenomenology

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Phenomenological criticism has proved a fundamentally antagonistic stand to the existing positivist

science and caused a significant breakthrough in architectural understanding.

One major interdisciplinary affect to be absorbed by architectural theory has been posed by

phenomenology and the idea of phenomenological learning was adopted by many researchers as a

tool of inquiry. Naturally phenomenology in architecture has shifted the attention to ‘how the things

are made’ so that they produce the influences they do on human senses. Therefore the focus of

architecture has shifted to architectonic elements after the positive reception of phenomenology.

Hence floors, walls, ceilings, horizons, sensational characteristics of materials, light, color, joints,

structural details, tactile and symbolic features gained on utmost significance. It should not be

overlooked that concepts such as setting, place, context, urban landscape and constructions are

consequences of phenomenological inquiry.

In recent discourses Postmodern theory has embarked on human body by problematizing the

relationships of human body with architecture and environment and thus lapsed into philosophical

speculations. That the environment is apprehended by our senses as a whole is already expounded

by psychologist James G. Gibson and can be traced back to his “Senses Considered as Perceptual

Systems”. However due to the inclusion of the subconscious into the study of the conscious and

systematic investigation of objects (Husserlian phenomenological probe) architecture found itself in

deep phenomenological explorations. Visual, tactile, olfactory sensations were deemed important in

the perception of objects. As a corollary such impressions started to play major roles in Postmodern

architecture.

C. Norberg-Schulz, as the Pioneer of phenomenology in architecture has defined architectural

object as an intermediary between the essence and experience where the essence was an

interrelation of human memories and values and therefore an architecture which formed

associations with human past had associational value over others and this found its counterpart in

the architectonic betrayed by the specific piece of work. Furthermore, he adopted Heidegger’s

concept of accommodation and re-defined it in Architecture as “fulfillment experienced from being

well protected by Architecture”. This also incorporates the features of architectural elements and the

details they are composed of. In the definition of place Christian Norberg-Schulz and other

phenomenologists lean onto Lynchian elements. Alberto Perez-Gomez advanced Heidegger’s

dwelling concept so as to comprehend “existential orientation”, “cultural identification” and

“implant in history". “In authentic architecture human beings were able to cope with the notion of

death by defining an existential space within transcendental boundaries of accommodation”, he

says. To put it differently, by territorializing a portion of place on earth human beings lessen the

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dread and sadness of death. ‘I existed and will still do…” Perez-Gomez also states that for any

architecture to be meaningful it requires a metaphysical dimension, a sign designating the

concealed. Rather than the representational-symbolical instruments he favors abstract elements

open to interpretations.

Finnish Phenomenologist Juhani Pallasmaa emphasized the psychological apprehension of

architecture in Architecture of Silence-1996 and primacy of the tactile sense over others in The

Eyes of the Skin-2007. In his former book he first criticizes Postmodern Architecture for superficial

formalism and then contends that behind our perception lie our dreams, reveries and imagination.

“Architecture of Silence” parallels with Freudian uncanny. “Architecture of Silence” is a book

which draws attention to the role of realities such as memory, subconscious and imagination in

creating the contemporary sublime.

On the other side, Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) has also been very influential on Derrida and

other philosophers involved in studies related to human body (earth, sky, mortal, immortal; ‘that

language determines the thought’, ‘that dwelling on earth is contemplative and rhetoric’).

Translation of Martin Heidegger and Gaston Bachelard since the 1950s helped to replace formalism

in Architecture with the sublime all over the sensitive world. To summarize, cities can be viewed

via the rich perspectives rendered above. A combination of them I will employ haphazardly in

studying Sarajevo. Memory, experience, senses and feelings will guide me in this in addition to

historical and scientific knowledge.

THE VERY OLD AND HISTORIC CITIES ON THE VERGE OF RADICAL CHANGES:

SARAJEVO AS THE CASE

For very old but very well protected cities there is nothing to be worried about. For the eradicated

cities there is little left to be done. For the modern cities adherence to Modern principles suits the

existing urban landscape. Provided that planning for the substructure is done well and the physical

structure operates in smooth accordance with it some extra features can be amended wherever the

lack or shortage is felt. Among those cities classified above one case protrudes as vitally important

because the changes are fast but the old city is still there and there remains something to be done to

avoid the loss of the city. One such case is Sarajevo. In this article I do not wish to dwell upon the

planning phases of Sarajevo as a city planner. Not that I am not a city planner but from a

Postmodern standpoint planning phases the town has gone through will not add to my argument. I

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will try to re-remember Sarajevo as I write and I will especially note why Sarajevo is old,

traditional, humane and therefore beautiful and I will emphasize why it should be dealt with tender

love and care.

AS I THINK OF SARAJEVO

Sarajevo is historic

With some cities with a long historical past one might have difficulty in imagining the copious past

because if we wanted to represent the historical sequence in spatial terms we could only do it by

juxtaposition in space: the same space cannot have two different contents. However, with Sarajevo

not much effort is needed for representing the historical sequence in multi-layered pictorial terms

because Sarajevo is sequential anyway. Periods and styles are adjacent in space and tied together

both geometrically and organically. The oldest town centre-the Başçarşi is anthropomorphically,

materially and mentally Ottoman in style. Out of it sharply stretches out rows of streets in a modest

continental neo-classical style known as Austria-Hungarian. Sarajevo is rich in styles.

Image 1. Pedestrian street from the Austria-Hungarian period (Photo: Uğur Turan)

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Image 2a-b. Buildings from the ModernArchitecture Period (Photos: Şengül Öymen Gür)

Sarajevo is the city of red corn poppies

However as I think of Sarajevo in retrospect, very powerful images of hill tops covered with

flanders (red corn poppies) flash into my memory. As Rossi declared once (1966; 1999) ‘the

residential districts are very powerful pieces of city form’. These are strictly bound up with the

cities’ evolution, nature and landscape; and with their structure and morphology they render cities

memorable. Any change in urban landscape, in social content and its function might jeopardize the

general image of the city.

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(Photo:Halil İbrahim Düzenli))

(Photo: Halil İbrahim Düzenli) (Photo: Ali Asasoğlu)

Image 3a-c. Outskits

Sarajevo is heart broken

The Miljacka running from East to West divides Sarajevo into two in the center. 12 bridges try to

tie the banks. Historical monuments are abundant on the north where the oldest trade center is.

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The Miljacka in Sarajevo

The Latin Bridge in Sarajevo Bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel (Photos 2&4:

Şengül Öymen Gür)

Image 4a-d. Sarajevo is heart broken

Sarajevo is anthropomorphic

The oldest part of the town, the Başçarşi-the genius loci-remains from the middle ages and attunes

with human scale beautifully. The streets, the small squares, the mosques surround and embrace one

like loosely fitted hand-sawn furs of the oldest times.

(Photo: Şengül Öymen Gür) (Photo: H. İbrahim Düzenli)

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(Photo: H. İbrahim Düzenli) (Photo: H. İbrahim Düzenli)

(Photo: Şengül Öymen Gür)

(Photo: Şengül Öymen Gür)

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(Morice Han-Photo: H. İbrahim Düzenli) (Gazi Hüsrev Medresa-Photo: Necmi Keskinsoy)

Image 5a-g. Sarajevo is anthropomorphic

Sarajevo is human conscious

There is an abundance of niches in Sarajevo, for longer and shorter stays. It is conscious of human

saying, mussel aching and strain, etc. There are peaceful settings decorated by man-made and

nature-granted objects, like trees and bushes.

Image 6a-b. Footbridge bifurcating to allow connection with the pavement so as to avoid accidents

during the rush hours (Photos: Şengül Öymen Gür).

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(Photo: Fulya Üstün) (Photo: H. İbrahim Düzenli).

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Image 7a-f. Human niches of Sarajevo (Photos: Şengül Öymen Gür)

Sarajevo is tender to its children

School children are prevented from direct contact with heavy traffic roads. Schools are protective

and precautious for the young. They flow either to the side streets or pedestrian streets.

Image 8. Schools dismiss into pedestrin streets (Photo: Şengül Öymen Gür)

Sarajevo is context-conscious

Even where the building codes and stipulations are not in effect people develop genius ways of

access to their houses from elevating and undulating roads and streets.

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(Photos: Şengül Öymen Gür)

Image 9a-g. Sarajevo is context-conscious

Sarajevo cares for privacy

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Image 10a-b. The gardens are surrounded by high walls; semi private couts modulate the entrance

to more private domains of the house.

Image 11a-b. Privacy thresholds are much and strong in the traditional settings

Image 12. If nothing else helps, bushes do… (Photos on this page: Şengül Öymen Gür)

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Sarajevo is sensitive towards the choice of materials and colors

Image 13a-c. Authentic materials result in colourful environments.

And details;

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(Photos on this page: Şengül Öymen Gür)

Image 14a-d. Detais of different scales are attractive.

SARAJEVO IS TRANSFORMING

Sarajevo is changing in search of a new identity and with a deep desire to integrate with the so-

called western world of which it is already geographically a part. A new and “Modern” Sarajevo is

being built at the outskirts. Instead of a more desirable transformation process change is creating a

young and new Sarajevo. Due to the learnt failure of many transformation projects in the

developing and developed world one might consent the creation of an entirely new annex which is

quite delineated from the main body of the town.

Image 15. Two different Sarjevos (Photo: Yaşar Usul)

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But the observed change points to the direction that will follow. Concern for cars has already

replaced the concern for man. Desperate contemporary solutions which emerge all over the world

have become ubiquitous here. Only a few of them are respectful to the geography and history.

(Photo: Münevver Tandoğan) (Photo: Hayri Özdemir)

Image 16a-b. Old and new

Image 17. Modern and lonely man in an out of scale housing alley (Photo: Şengül Öymen Gür).

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(Photo: Şengül Öymen Gür) (Photo: Barış Tüysüz)

Image 18a-b. Modern apartment blocks in Sarajevo

Image 18. Postmodern additions to Sarajevo. (Photo: Hüsnü Kılıç)

Desire for integration is strongly felt in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Although people feel strong about

their old cultural assets their desire for integration is reflected in everything, even in their gustatory

revisions which they believe might fit the taste of western world better. However the Turkish coffee

remains as they have internalized it centuries ago!

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Image 19. Urge to change (Photos: Şengül Öymen Gür)

Image 20. Turks and Bosnians-Discussions on common problems

Nevertheless it is clear that the changes will continue at an unprecedented pace and another lovely

historical town will pass away just like many others did in the developing world. So near is death!

As they have always felt like…

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Image 21. Cemeteries in Sarajevo complete the general view of Sarajevo and sizzles the hearths of

those with humanitarian values (Photo: Hüsnü Kılıç).

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Under these circumstances architecture must take the field. The savagery of investments must be

superseded by propositions at the scale of globalizers; all cities in similar conditions must be

imagined from the scratch, big chunks of alternative visions of realities. Against the aesthetics of

alienation and annihilation we must respond with fresh forms of survival and joy. In line with these

expectations and intentions some ideas and concepts gain priority. The foremost concept is identity.

Identity

Identity can be defined as persistent and recurring properties of an object which distinguishes it

from a system of functionally similar entities. Within itself it is consistent; it is the “same” all the

time. But it is “different” by comparison with other objects and the encompassing system. Culler

(1982) defines difference as a universal system of dissociations, discriminations, distances and

differences between things. It is the point where those concepts/words which exist in the same

vocabulary start to differ and deviate in terms of meaning. In the definition of difference at the

Angelfire website the primary emphasis is on the word “same” which implies repetition of an idea.

The power of idea is reflected in its concurrency and consistency and the idea repeats itself with its

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34

internal laws. In an article called Plato’s Pharmacy, from Dissemination, Derrida provides a

commentary on the law that governs the truth of the eidos (idea):

“The truth of eidos, as that which is identical to itself, always the same as itself and always

simple, eidos, indecomposable, invariable. The eidos is that which can always be repeated as

the same. The ideality and invisibility of the eidos are its power-to-be repeated. Now, law is

always a law of repetition, and repetition is always submission to a law” (D 125).

The fundamentalist theories of architecture such as the classical based on Plato’s Metaphysics and

Pythagoras’s mathematics, as well as the Modern Architecture based on scientific Positivism used

to operate on canons (ideos) and gained their power from repetition. No two Renaissance churches

of the 15th Century Italy are identical; no two Seljuk mosques of the 11th Century are identical, but

all mosques of a certain period are the same; so are all the churches, with imperceptible differences

which defer the imminent changes. ‘The identifiability of the mark in its repetition and its

differentiality’ is what allows them to hop about from context to context’.

By introducing the word différance into philosophy Derrida has proposed a powerful modification

of the ordinary notions of identity and difference: ‘Any single meaning of a concept or text arises

only by the effacement of other possible meanings, which are themselves only deferred, left over,

for their possible activation in other contexts’. When the deferred takes over, the text is not the

same any more…a new identity, a new meaning, a new building style might have been achieved is

that which is implied. ‘Trivial insignificance signifies a possibility… Insignificant trace is the mark

of a difference a priori’ posits Derrida. This may be likened to ‘MA’ (a short imperceptible

interval) in Japanese dramas by which the subject matter changes or to the term ‘inflection point’

in Deleuze’s philosophy which implies an insignificant signifier of drops and rises in speech

(Cache, 1995). In line with these arguments the discussion can be carried one step further into the

realm of physical objects, rather than the concepts and words.

Identity of cities

As for the identity of cities, Tricart (1963) had suggested that the social content of the city is the

basis for reading it: human geography concentrates on the structures of the city in connection with

the form of the place where they appear. In connection with this view that social content relates

them all, he established three scales for study;

1. The scale of the street, including the built an empty land that embraces

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it.

2. The scale of the district, consisting of a group of blocks with common

characteristics.

3. The scale of the entire city, consisting of districts.

Rossi (1966) has rejected the idea of size and scale positing that; “dynamic forces of urbanism are

vital wherever men and things are found compacted, and the urban organism is subject to the same

natural and social laws regardless of size” (p.49).

Also rather than the street and houses he rightfully prefers to speak of inhabited real estate because

“real estate has to do with the deed registry of land parcels in which the principal use of the ground

is for construction” (p.49). The usage of inhabited land is more significant in the shaping of house

typology, blocks and districts rather than a single and unique house. Therefore to classify this land

Rossi proposes 4 categories (p.49);

1. A block of houses surrounded by open space,

2. A block of houses connected to each other and facing the street,

constituting a continuous wall parallel to the street itself;

3. A deep block of houses that almost totally occupies the available space.

4. Houses with closed courts and small interior structures.

Also a useful distinction is made by Rossi related to the socio-economic content of the real estate

where he employs the word “house” this time (p.50);

1. The “pre-capitalist house, which is established by a proprietor without exploitative ends.

2. The “capitalist house” which is meant for rental and in which everything is subordinated

to the production of revenue….

3. The “para-capitalist” house, built for one family with one floor rented out.

4. The “socialist” house which is a new type of construction appearing in countries where

there is no private land ownership and also in democratic countries.

However, due to the socio-economic importance and political implications I would prefer a more

comprehensive list, employing his style of wording still;

5. The “para-socialist” house type I, owned by workers and produced by workers’ unions,

such as those built during 1924-1934 by Bruno Taut in Berlin.

6. The “para-socialist” house type II, rental state housing owned by municipalities.

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On the other hand, for Marcel Poète and Pierre Lavedan the concept of “persistence” is

fundamental in their theories of cities which are based on elements drawn from geography and

history of architecture. According to them persistence is the generator of the plan, and through an

understanding of it one can rediscover the spatial formation of the city. An analysis of the

palimpsest, layer by layer would betray the persistent: the street patterns, the lots, the inhabited real

estate, the house typologies and monuments added to this persistent plan etc. All of these consist in

the identity of the city.

But what about the unique identity of a city! What makes a city unique? The quality of its artifacts,

responds Rossi, which denotes that which is the product of the public and that which is the product

of the individual. The analysis of city which is ‘an object of the nature and subject of the culture’ is

advanced by Halbwachs who postulated that imagination and memory are the typical

characteristics of urban artifacts.

In this respect dull terms such as plot, lot, real estate, house typology stop short of a consideration

and sensation of the aura of the city, the uniqueness, the virtual identity which can only be

disclosed via imagination: virtually flue but as real as possible via the senses. Shapes, colors,

textures, vistas, balance of nature and architecture as remembered, sounds, tastes, tactile

experiences, sense of freedom, security and affection, etc. all define the unique memories

associated with cities. A city is more important as a whole than the single parts. Kevin Lynch’s

postulate of nodes, districts, paths, edges, and landmarks are valid to structure cities, but drained of

properties they are also short of yielding the atmosphere of a city. Via the properties of the whole,

cities are coded and carved in our cognition. In this totality the residential images are more

powerful than the monuments. I hardly remember any one of the monuments and historically

important buildings of Sarajevo accurately. I close my eyes and see the fields of red corn puppies

flowing down hills. Whatever remains in memory actually renders a city unique that is different

from “others”. If a city or a person, just the same, does not register in individual memory that

means it has passed as one of “others”. To this end I developed a tentative table of signifiers which

are partly physical and partly spiritual for a well-grounded argument on the psychological

apprehension of cities (Table 1)

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ATMOSPHERE

The major qualities which make up the atmosphere of cities are many. Most of these are actually

not pure realities like geography and history as urban historians see it; these are adjectives or

adjectival clauses related to the structure and components of cities. In other words, sensuous

character (discriminative stimuli) of the cities and the feelings they evoke in the observer bestow

upon them their most memorable aspects and human cognition ascribes to them their particular and

unique standing among others.

Humanism: Cities vary on their humanitarian qualities. Cantilevered roof systems, arcades, streets

aligned with trees, niches and precautious courts and agoras protect people against climatic

conditions. These properties raise the humanistic values of cities. As mentioned above Sarajevo is

human conscious and child sensitive. It brings out a motherly effect and secures us mentally.

Table1. Signifiers of Identity of Cities

Geography

Community Atmosphere

(Psychological

apprehension of city)

Topography

Inflection points,

Vectors, Frames, etc

Geometry

of City, District, Block of Housing, Houses; of other facilities such as industry, work, recreation,

transportation, etc.; of landmarks and nodes.

Distributions (divisibility and identifiability of districts); patterns; identifications (character and status

of urban elements); architectonics; generic elements

Climate

Building enclosures

and other physical

measures

Demography

Discriminations

Sense of community

Hierarchy of public

spaces

Distribution of classes

Barriers against others

Use of Energy

resources

Modes of

Transportation

Behavior Patterns of

Users (work,

recreation, leisure,

etc)

Use of urban ground

floor

(retail stores, catering,

coffee shops, business

activity, etc.)

A block of

houses

surrounded

by open

space

A block of

houses connected

to each other and

facing the street,

constituting a

continuous wall

parallel to the

street itself

A deep

block of

houses that

almost

totally

occupies the

available

space

Houses with

closed courts

and small

interior

structures

Streets

House forms

(Good streets;

Security;

Walk-ability;

Load of

transportation;

Use of energy)

Anthropometry

Humanism

Protectiveness

Choreography

(movement of masses)

Total Form/Shape

Style

Ornament

Detail

Materials and Use

Ambiance

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Agoras/Alleys: Cities rich with agoras, protected alleys and traditional closed bazaars aid in

interaction among people. They act as the most democratic tools which invite exchange of ideas,

collaboration and organization. The anonymous users who shop and gaze each other in the

shopping malls do not interact, they act parallel. Place attachment is created among frequent users

of agoras which historically happened to be close to certain neighborhoods. This situation may be

likened to playing in the street versus playing in the playgrounds. The former leads to peer group

forming but the latter can not. Sarajevo is built upon agoras of different sizes formed around

praying places of different religions which also happen to be side by side.

Anthropometry: Although Rossi has negated the size and scale of towns in the analysis of city

structures, size and scale we are surrounded with is a significant factor affecting our feelings of

being “at home”. Exaggerated scale of buildings, trees and waves for instance evokes horror in us

and we do not feel comfortable in our doings. Looking towards a canyon from above might be

exhilarating and terrific but the opposite is not that entertaining. The idea of the cliffs falling down

upon us is very scary. The historic Sarajevo embraces and pampers us like our cradle.

Choreography: It is interesting to note that collective choreography of the inhabitants of a town is

a very precious hint to understanding the life style and values of a city. This is a major determinant

of the ambiance of a town. Hectic town, sluggish town, organized town, old age town-young age

town, entertaining town-boring town, etc. are qualities a discriminative eye can detect. Even after a

horrible civil war which took the lives of many Sarajevo is a splendidly relax town. This permeates

all the domains of city life and even the nervous system of the strangers. Nothing serious to catch

up with, tranquil and peaceful; this idea fills one with joy.

Total form/shape: Tall, medium, short; sparse, compact; diffuse, concentrated; green, not-green;

evenly distributed green, spot green, hierarchic green, usage of real estate in residential areas;

evenly-distributed monuments, large scale monuments; presence or lack of lakes, rivers, seashores;

presence or lack of roof and attics; color of roofs; colorful or monochrome façades of streets and

courts, etc. afford a total impression in the eye of the viewer. Cities are remembered by these

properties. Historic Sarajevo is small, short, concentrated, and compact. It houses a hierarchy of

green areas and has evenly distributed monuments and historically valuable buildings. The river is

an emphasis on its identity; red roofs reinforce the strength of identity; light colored façades add to

its nobility. The most significant is the clustered deep block of houses that almost totally occupies

the available inclined space over the hills on both sides of the river Miljacka.

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Style: The style may be consistent with keen definitions of the high traditions of the West, it may

be localized Western style or an authentic “other” or yet a mixture of West and local, vernacular

etc. Four major styles exist in Sarajevo: Classic Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Modern and

vernacular. They are place-specific. Therefore in terms of styles Sarajevo is a very easily

discernable city. You recognize where you are at once!

Ornament: The candor with which we increasingly acknowledged the demands of senses led the

ornament grow from within the cracks of Modernism. For the Moderns ornament signified a lack

of morality. The idea still remains with us that while the plan as generator is conceived in the

central realm of intelligence, ornament merely grows in the outer province of senses. But today the

entire corpus of architecture became ornament Zaha Hadid and to a certain extent Peter Eisenman

set excellent examples for this argument. Ornament is inevitable in the creation of high quality

artifacts and every age creates its own particular ornament for the senses. Very noble and

distinguished is the ornament that adorns Sarajevo. Başçarşi is a sensuous example of ornament by

its contradicting and conflicting timber roof hangings. Traditional houses make uses of timber

laces and the ordinary houses of the present use the shingle cladding of the roof in a very

ornamental manner peculiar to the town. Architectonic order of these houses is an ornament in

itself.

Juan Pablo Bonta warns in his 1979 book Archtecture and Its Interpretation "Architects are

deluding themselves if they believe that they are addressing submissive audiences, eager to

communicate; that their public wants by all means to understand (even to decipher, if necessary) the

meaning of architecture as seen by the designer…What people want is to see their own meanings in

the environment – with their own systems of values, from their own frames of reference, shaped by

the expressive systems that they share with their community but not necessarily with the designer."

Compact architectural order of housing in Sarajevo reflects the common values of people of

Sarajevo.

Detail: Architectural detail is a site of excess, a place where materials usually meet creating a

problem of seams or boundaries. Conventions over solutions are part of architectural culture.

Contact with nature in the enclosure might be so specific in a place that they give a certain

identifiable character to the city or sometimes they can be ascribed to a certain architect. An

example to the first case is the roof cladding and finishes of the Venetian house, an example for the

second case might be the “Taut style protrusions” on the entrance façade of most Berlin houses.

Since Taut built about 10.000 houses in Berlin it has been a property of Berlin. Ground floor-nature

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relations are very special of Glenn Murcutt and his simple buildings in which he exercised this idea

in the non-urbanized lands of Australia brought him the Pritzker Prize. “His structures are said to

float above the landscape, or in the words of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia that he is

fond of quoting, they "touch the earth lightly." (http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2002annc.htm).

Simple hatched roofs of the Bosnia-Herzegovina houses touch the sky lightly and at once unite the

earth and the sky and remain with us as such.

Materials and use: Materials do not dictate sensations they evoke feelings in the observer. Their

being natural or man-made produces adverse reactions. Natural materials evoke warm and secure

feelings as opposed to those produced. The produced may sometimes evoke admiration and

stimulate imagination for even newer, lighter and durable materials but for most people timber,

stone and even marble is more empathetic. Historic Sarajevo makes use of timber, stone and

terracotta abundantly and marble is profusely used for floor cladding. Sarajevo is warm.

Ambience: is all of the above plus the flavor of their composite bearings on the tongue, ears, eyes,

nose, muscles, and epidermis. It is the feeling of life and meditation that embraces the soul

there. It is an effect rather than an ideal or a rationale, or a meaning. It is the bakeries may

be…or the second hand stores…or the flowers wrapped up to make a cheerful gift to a lover.

Sarajevo has something like the glasses of Elvis Costello. Costello needs his glasses: they are not

the cause of his cool, but they are his cool special effect. Sarajevo has this cool effect but I am not

sure what its glasses are exactly.

PRESCRIPTIONS/PROSCRIPTIONS

There are no maps or master plans in this essay… Since I am neither a city planner nor an urban

designer what I understand from the concepts of town and identity are those expressed above.

Those ideas explored and expounded above however are powerful propositions to differentiate the

urban identity. Their power resides in social and individual memory and their corroboration does

not require scientific tools or techniques but personal experience. If these constructs happen to be

substantiated in the history, geography and structure of cities they should be treated with tender

love and care. To consolidate and preserve identity is difficult but significant. Just like the way

people with strong identity arouse reverence among their community members and set example,

cities with strong discriminative identity properties should be bequeathed to the future to be taken

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as models. In this respect to protect and preserve the identity of valuable cities is not a conservative

act but a futuristic vision.

REFERENCES

Agrest, D., Gandelsonas, M., “Semiotics and Architecture”, Oppositions I, Summer 1976, 97.

Bachelard, G., The Poetics of Space, Translated into English by Maria Jolas, Beacon Press, Boston,

1969.

Barthes, R., “Semiology and Urbanism,” Structures Implicit and Explicit, VIA 2, 1973, 155 –157.

Bonta , J. P., Architecture and Its Interpretation, Lund Humpries, London, 1979.

Cache, B., Earth Moves: The Furnishing of Territories, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1995.

Culler, J., On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism, Cornell UP, New York,

1982.

Derrida, J., Dissemination, translated into English by Barbara Johnson, U of Chicago P, Chicago,

1981.

Diamond, J., Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, W.W. Norton, New York,

1997.

Gibson, J. J., Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1966.

Gür, Ş. Ö., Dokunma(ma)-Kavrama(ma), Yapı (212), July 1999, 57–65.

Gür, Ş. Ö., Palimpsest: Örselenmiş Parşömen ya da Tablet, YAPI 245, April 2002a, 60-65.

Gür, Ş. Ö., Palimpsesti Okumak” YAPI 246, May, 2002b, 64–74.

Halbwachs, La Memoire Collective, Presses Universtaire de France, Paris, 1950.

Krier, L., “The Reconstruction of the City”, Rational Architecture: The Reconstruction of the

European City, Archives of Modern Architecture Editions, Brussel, 1978.

Lavedan, P., Géographie des Villes, Galimard, Paris, 1936.

Lavedan, P., Histoire de L’urbanism, 3 cilt, Henri Laurens, Paris, 1926-52.

Lavin, S., “How Architecture Stopped Being the 97-Pound Weakling and Became Cool,” The State

of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century, B. Tschumi and I. Cheng (Eds.), The

Monaxelli Press, New York, 2003, 46–47.

Nesbitt, K., Introduction in Theorizing a new Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of

Architectural Theory 1965-1995, Edited by Kate Nesbitt, Princeton Architectural Press, Princeton,

1996, 12-70.

Norberg-Schulz, C., Intentions in Architecture, The MIT Press, Cambridege, 1965.

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Norberg-Schulz, C., “The Phenomenon of Place”, the Architectural Association Quarterly 8, No.4,

1976, 3–9.

Norberg-Schulz, C., “Heidegger’s Thinking on Architecture,” Perspecta 20, 1983, 59–69.

Pallasmaa, J., Architecture du Silence, (exhibition book with Leonhard Lapin), Institut Finlandais,

Paris, 1994.

Pallasmaa, J., The Eyes of the Skin. Architecture and the Senses, John Wiley, New York, 2005.

Perez-Gomez, A., “The Renovation of the Body: John Hejduk and the Cultural Relevance of

Theoretical Project,” AA Files 13, no.8, autumn, 1986.

Poète, M., Introduction à l’Urbanisme. L’évolution des villes, la leçon de l’antiquité, Boivin & Cie,

Paris, 1929.

Rossi, A., The Architecture of the City, Opposition books, The MIT Press, Cambridge, 1966.

Rowe, C., Koetter, F., Collage City, The MIT Press, Cambridge, 1978.

Toffler, A., The Third Wave, Bantham Books, New York, 1980.

Tricart, J., Cours deGéographie Humaine, 2 vols, Centre de Documentation Universitaire, Paris,

1963.

Venturi, R., Scott Brown, D., Izenour, S., Learning From Las Vegas, The MIT, Cambridge, 1972.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology

http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2002annc.ht

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ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF SARAJEVO-BOSNIA AND

HERZEGOVINA

Ahmet Hadrovıć

THE SCENARIO

All great empires in the human history can be seen through a single scenario:

1. Beginning

2. Ascent (Expansion)

3. Culmination

4. Stagnation ( Decadence)

5. Descent (Weakening)

6. Epilogue

Every great empire has its particularities: sometimes those are examples of brilliant military actions,

individual human accomplishments, high moral gestures, eerie descent of human dignity, up to

today’s incomprehensible system of values, architectural and engineering projects, and undreamt

range of human creativity in a vast number of architectural work.

Resultants of all accomplishments of one empire are determined by empire’s place in human

history: sometimes those are just more or less petrified remains to which latter generations look

back and see as definite past; sometimes those are values that we decipher with delay and include

them into timeless values of humankind; sometimes those are values that latter generations accept in

continuity, naturally and spontaneously, same as they inherit the water, earth, air.

In order to understand civilizational heritage of the Ottoman Empire it seems particularly important

to highlight the following:

1. Ottomans ethnical roots originating from Central Asia

2. Ottoman Empire’s civilisational accomplishments had Islam as a base (not just as a religion

but also as universal perspective of the world)

3. Geographically, the Ottoman Empire was created on three continents (Asia, Europe and

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Africa), therefore at the place of great earlier empires (civilizations): Old Egypt,

Mesopotamia, Persia, Antique Greece and Rome

4. Historically, the Ottoman Empire was the last empire in line (understanding this concept in a

classical sense), by whose dissolution ‘’quakes’’ are not yet quite appeased.

HISTORY

Seljuks

Mayor of Turks-Seljuks, Seljuk Bey, descendant of the Oguz tribe, at the end of the 10th

century

brought his troops from Kirgiz (Kirgiz Steppes) and colonised Buhari. By this time Turks had

already been followers of Islam.1

Seljuks part of the Turkish history can be divided into three historic and artistic periods:

1. (Persian) Great Seljuk Period (1040-1194),

2. (Rumi) Seljuk Anatolian Period (1071-1308),

3. Beylik Period (1256-1483).

Obviously, we are dealing with three different geographical locations, which had been populated by

descendants of the same Oğuz tribe, who found different social conditions, different cultures, a

nation that had set up its life, which resulted in wide range of architectural programs, same in

purpose, but different in physical-artistic articulation. These places (periods) had existed partially

parallel, while in part they overlapped through longer or shorter periods of the unique government.

Tugrul Bey, grandson of Seljuk Bey, during the war with Mes'ud (Gazna administrator) in 1040,

occupied Horasan and established the first Seljuk State. Simultaneously, numerous groups of the

Oguz tribe were populating Kars, Erzurum and Malatya, occupying Sivas and Kizil Irmak (Halys).

Turgul Bey had conquered major part of Persia, area around Van Lake and also the area towards

Trabzon. When he conquered Baghdad in 1055, he declared himself a sultan. Turgul Bey died in

1063, when he was succeeded by Alparslan, the son of Cagri Bey, and the grandson of Seljuk Bey.

1 The first contact that Turks had with Islam dates from Turk‐Arabian conflict in 642. The first Muslim Turkish dynasty originates  from  Yasaman Kutay  (year  874),  region  of  Buhara‐Horasan. Mother  of Ma’mun  and Mu’tasim,  sons  of Abasid khalif,Harum‐el‐Rashid, was Turk. Mu’tasim’s personal guard were Turks, who established town Samara near Baghdad in 832‐842. 

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This young conqueror in 1064 broke the resistance of Georgia in South Caucasus, and his victory

over Byzantium at Manzikert in 1064 opened a new era in the history of the Turks.

Alparslan was killed in 1072, and succeeded by his son Meliksah I (1072-1092). Conquests were

continued and soon Anatolia had gone into hands of Turcs; the great Seljuk Empire, which spread

from Marmara and Aegean Sea in the west to Central Asia in the east, from Caucasus in the north to

Egypt in the south.

Meliksah I was seated in Ispahan, where he had built his mosque Mescit-al-Cuma, while his vizier

Nisam-el-Mulk built the Seljuk Medrese, which had lecture rooms and rooms for students,

organised around an inner yard. Such place organization was applied on Cami-al-Sultan Mosque in

1092.

Meliksah I died relatively early, when he was 38 years old, and succeeded by Kiliçarslan I (1092-

1107), the son of Emir Suleyman, the first known Sultan of Anatolia. With his great victories over

Byzantium, he had entered the history as one of the greatest heroes of Islam. His brother Meliksah

II succeeded him at the throne (1107-1116), whereas he was succeeded by Mes'ud I (1116-1156),

the son of Kilicarslan. Capital city was Konya. Kiliçarslan II (1156-1192) succeeded his father,

and with his rule he had marked the time of great development; he broke the resistance of

Byzantium near Konya, and built significant buildings: Alauddin Mosque, Pavilion, Iplikci Mosque,

and also the first Seljuk caravansaries in Konya. He was succeeded by his son Giyasϋddin

Keyhϋsrev I (1210-1220). In Kayseri he built a hospital and medical school Gevher Nesibe Hatun

(after his sister's name), as the first great monument in the history of Turkish medicine. He was

succeeded by his son Izzϋddin Keykâvus I (1210-1220). His troops reached the Black Sea and

Mediterrannean, with which he opened the door to world's markets.

He was succeeded by his brother Alâϋddin Keykûbâd I (1220-1235), who had expanded strong

trading relations with the world, especially with Genoese, at that time leading maritime power.

Konya and Sivas became important trading centers, with 24 caravan-like towns (caravanserais) in

between, and in Adalia 6 hostelries. Two new towns had been built, Alanya and Kubadiye (near

Kayseri), and organized as Central Asia's towns, with ‘‘carsija’’ (centre, shopping plaza), flower

shops and arranged water-supply system.

He was succeeded by his son Giyasϋddin Keyhϋsrev II (1236-1246), who built Sircali Medrese in

Konya, Spiral Minaret in Amasya, Hand Hatun imaret in Kayseri, with a mosque and turbe (tomb).

Seljuk sultans (Izzϋddin Keykâvus II (1246-1261), Giyasϋddin Keyhϋsrev III (1264-1283) had

fallen under the sovereignity of the Mogul Khans. With the death of sultan Mes'ud in 1308, the

Seljuk sultans’ institution ceased to exist, by splitting the unique region into numerous small areas,

ruled by local beys (feudal lords). Beys of the Karaman region (1256-1483) should be accentuated

here for their significant architectural activities.

The Ottomans

The founder of the Ottoman State was Ertuğrul (Gazi) Bey, member of the Kayi branch, Oguz

tribe. He came into Anatolia, Karacadağ region, during the rule of Alâϋddin Keykûbâd I. He was

succeeded by his son Osman Bey (Osman I, 1288-1326), who in 1299 declared the independance of

his state.2

Image 1. Interior of the Osmangazi tomb, Bursa

2 All latter Turks will be called Ottomans after him (Tur. Osmanlılar), and future empire The Ottoman Empire. Osman I (1288‐1326) was  succeeded by  the  following  rulers,  consecutively: Orhan  (1326‐1359), Murat  I  (1359‐1389), Bajazid  I (1389‐1402),  Sulejman  (1402‐1410), Musa  (?‐1413),  Isa  (?‐?), Mehmad  I  (1413‐1421), Murat  II  (1421‐1444,  1445‐1451), Mehmed II Osvajač  (1444 i 1451‐1481) (Mehmed II the Conqueror), Bajazid II (1481‐1512), Selim I (1512‐1520), Sulejman I (1520‐1566) (Sulejman Veličanstveni, Sulejman Zakonodavac), Selim II (1566‐1574), Murat III (1574‐1595), Mehmed III (1595‐1603),  Ahmed  I  (1603‐1617), Mustafa  I  (1617‐1618,  1622‐1623),  Osman  II  (1618‐1622), Murat  IV  (1623‐1640), Ibrahim I (1640‐1648), Mehmed IV (1648‐1687), Sulejman II (1687‐1691), Ahmed II (1691‐1695), Mustafa II (1695‐1703), Ahmed III (1703‐1730), Mahmud I (1730‐1754), Osman III (1754‐1757), Mustafa III (1757‐1774), Abdul Hamid I (1774‐1789), Selim III (1789‐1807), Mustafa IV (1807‐1808), Mahmud II (1808‐1839), Abdul Medžid I (1839‐1861), Abdul Aziz (1861‐1876), Murat V (1876), Abdul Hamid II (1876‐1909), Mehmed V (1909‐1918), Mehmed VI (1918‐1922). 

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Image 2. Ulu Camii, Bursa

The Ottoman Empire was officially established in 1383, when Murat I declared himself a sultan. In

the long history of the Ottoman Empire specific phases can be noticed, which on the one hand

confirm ''universal scenario'' , appearance – disappearance of one Empire and provide systematical

tracing of the civilization effect, on the other hand:

1. Bursa Period, The Foundation Period (1299-1501),

2. Classical Period, The Golden Age(1501-1703),

3. The Tulip Period (1703-1730),

4. The Turkish Baroque Period (1730-1808),

5. The Empire Period (1808-1867),

6. The Cosmopolitan Period (1867-1908),

7. The Young Turks Period (1908-1923).

Out of the most significant historical events in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire it is important

to highlight the following:

1. Seizing Gelibolu (1354) and Edirne (Adrianople 1361), in Europe

2. Victory in Kosovo (1389), that opened the way towards Hungary and Vienna

3. Conquest of the Crimea (1393), the opening for maritime domination, from the Black Sea to

Mediterranean

4. Conquest of the Costantinopole (1453), having established Istanbul as the Empire's

headquarters.

5. Victory over Sefevidi at Caldiran (1514) indicated the safety of Eastern Anatolia, and

prevention of potential disagreements within the religion.

6. Conquest of the Alep and Damascus (1516) and Kairo (1517) marked the victory over

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Mameluks, and also put holly Muslim and Catholic places under its control.

7. Conquest of Rhodes (1522), Tunisia (1535), Algeria (1537), Cyprus (1571), which assured

them domination at the Mediterranean.

It seems like the futile sieges of Vienna (1529, 1532) were both the culmination and the beginning

of the Ottoman Empire's downfall.

In the amazing history of the Ottoman Empire, that lasted for more than 6 centuries, the history of

Asia, Europe and Africa is also involved, better to say the history of humankind. During this period

Europe underwent different social systems, from early feudalism (Middle Age) to early modern

states, imperialistic expansions to other continents, attempts to impose superiority within the same

(wars with Napoleon Bonaparte), bourgeois revolutions, capitalism, kingdoms and empires,

socialistic utopias, the First World War.

When it comes to art, those were the periods of Romanticism, Gothic, Humanism and Renaissance,

Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Historicism, the period of ''The Great Change'': Modernism.

It is very interesting to search for historical, artistic, philosophical and other parallels between the

Ottoman Empire and Europe, tangential points, interlacing, disagreements and agreements, mutual

encouragements and obstructions.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA UNDER THE REIGN OF THE OTTOMAN

EMPIRE

We shall open this chapter with a note from a Turkish chronicle; it is about Bosnia and

Herzegovina, seen by Mehmed II the Conqueror (El Fatih), who occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina

in 1453.

“Bosnia vilayet (county) is one vast country. Most of its mountains are overgrown by forests. Its

mountains are high. Its towns are firm and hard to conquer. It is a country rich in gold and silver

mines. Because of the gorgeousness of its waters and air, that country has become a fountain of the

dearest humankind, simply to use it when comparing beauties...”3

3  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  “Monography”,  The  Second  Edition  ,  “Svjetlost”  Sarajevo  and  “Jugoslovenksa  revija” Beograd  

49

Since the battle at Bileca in 1388, the Ottoman Empire had been conquering Bosnia and

Herzegovina for 140 years, until the fall of Jajce in 1528. This long period did not reflect neither the

strength of Bosnia nor the weakness of the Ottoman Empire; it was just a skillful tactics of a

conqueror, that had been monitoring opportunities at the area that they wished to conquer; tactics

concerning noticing the nature of relations, measuring strength of an individual, to put under liege

every rich man of the region, and finally to control the area without many disagreements.

One of the most important figures of the incoming conquerors, one that will affect later history of

Bosnia and Herzegovina, was Isa-bey Ishakovic. In 1439, this general and statesman got from the

Sultan a “sentinel and management” over Bosnia. Already in 1448 he began to practice these orders

and honours: he organized a campaign against Bosnia, penetrated up to Neretva, and from the east

he seized once famous Drijevo market at Neretva, as well as fortified towns Hodided and Vrhbosna.

The first Turkish administrative unit in Bosnia “Bosnian Border“(Bosansko Krajist) was founded in

1455, then in 1455 “Hodided Vilayet” (An administrative division of the Ottomans) and

“Sarayovasi Vilayet“(Sarajevo).

Having made his first investments in 1457, Isha-bey Ishakovic formed the basis of today's Sarajevo.

Sultan Mehmed el Fatih personally managed the occupation of Bosnia; in 1463 he organized an

attack on Jajce, seat of the last Bosnian king, Stjepan Tomasevic. The king retreated towards the

west, but he got captured in Kljuc and as a prisoner returned to Jajce, where he was immediately

executed. This meant a definite fall of Bosnia into hands of the Ottoman Empire (even though Jajce

and a large part of the Border (Krajina), from 1463 to 1528, were governed by the Hungarian king

Martin Korvina). However, with the fall of Novi (Herzeg-Novi) in 1482 Herzegovina was under the

complet reign of the Sultan.

It is very important to highlight the contours of socio-cultural and religious background where

Bosnia lived from the end of the 15th

century until today. In the same ethnic web there are three

parallel interlaced streams: Serbian (oriented towards Byzantine and Slavic ecclesiastical tradition),

Croatian (to western-Christian life style), Islamic (on the one hand oriented toward Islamic life style

brought by the Ottomans, and on the other hand toward genuine Bosnian model, defined by a

religious dissension of specialty, adaptability and tolerance). The fourth stream was attached to

these three in 1492, and it was the Jewish stream (when Jews were expelled from Spain and

Portugal).

Image 3. Travnik Image 4. Jajce

Such complexity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the 15th

century until today, at the same time

brought many troubles (extremely violent confrontations, devastation and many victims), as well as

having been a generator of unseen creativity in all dimensions of human practice and spirit.

At the beginning of the 16th

century, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Ottoman Empire

in every sense of the word (administrative, territorial, social, economic and cultural), first as

Bosnian Sanjak (district) in 1463, and then as Bosnian Paşaluk (eyalet – first-order administrative

unit, feudality) in 1580 with a vizier ahead; the first Paşaluk was seated in Banja Luka (until 1639),

after that in Sarajevo (until 1697), Travnik (until 1850) and again Sarajevo (until Austro-Hungarian

occupation).

The Ottoman administration brought completely new social and economic organization: the sultan

owned everything (land, forests, and ores) and all other people were his vassals: Land owners,

feudalists (Spahis) and all other people were, above everything, sultan’s soldiers, who had the

obligation to respond whenever they were called upon. Farmers gave their contribution to the sultan

by working for common good and giving precisely defined fees. Iron miners and craftsmen were

particularly privileged (because of iron’s strategic significance to the Empire).

However, having noticed (until then unseen) a connection between feudalists and their properties,

and also serious difficulties in practicing defined social and economic organization, here in Bosnia,

the Ottoman Empire somewhat deviated from this scheme. They made a compromise: they left the

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land to the feudalists after they accepted Islam, but gave them an obligation to be submissive to the

Sultan by giving certain duties, protecting the Empire from foreign troops, and also collaborating

into wars by Sultan’s orders.

Organized in such a way (Middle Age) Bosnian feuds had become captaincies. Although

captaincies for a long time had operated according to the Porta’s concept, they were latent rebellion

centers, and towards the end of the Ottoman Empire they were one of the most seismic, “inner”

factors causing the Empire’s collapse. Church organizations already present there, Orthodox and

Catholic, remained intact, and enjoyed Porta’s protection; the same was applied on the Jewish

community.

When it comes to urbanism and architecture, there was a great change: as a result of a new social

and economic organization, unseen power, wave of inhabitants and new aspects of life, new towns

began to “grow”, in a full sense of today’s concept of town being a complex physical, social,

economic and cultural structure. All those things that were considered in a Middle-Age town to be

an advantage became a restriction, and vice versa, what was considered weakness became

advantage.

New towns were built at the crossroads, close to river flows, in spacious valleys and wide plains. At

the same time, existing towns were revised where mosque had been added as the only new facility–

fortresses remained as military strongholds, barracks with troops and armament.

Practically, all contemporary towns of Bosnia and Herzegovina were founded during the Ottoman

administration. The Ottomans brought new structural and functional scheme to town organization:

in the town’s centre there was a “carsija” (town’s centre) and on outskirts of a town there were so

called “mahalas”, places where people lived.

Bazaar (carsija) was a merchandising area, market place and business zone with craft-workshops,

stores, and also buildings for public purpose: mosques, theological schools (medrese), overnight

inns (caravanserais), hostels (hans), public Turkish baths (hamam), public water taps, etc.

Mahalas, even though residential quarters, had their private and public zones: public zone was

consisted of small squares (mejdans) – oftentimes just expanded crossroads of mahala’s roads; i.e.

squares towards which mahala’s mosques were oriented, as well as groceries (bakalnica),

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barbershops and public water taps; individual houses (depending of a owner’s wealth) were

organized as more or less differentiated public zones (selamluk), and strictly private zones

(haremluk). General zoning of the Ottoman towns was reflected through philosophical, religious

and moral system of values: collectiveness was primarily important (eternal value), and

individuality was a matter of individuals (transitory, variable, “exactly suited human life span”).

However, it did not mean that spatio-functional organization of individual domestic complex was

poor in any sense; the principles used by domestic complexes to organize a mahala, as well as the

organization of domestic complex, reflected a person–individual who, above everything, respected

another individual (neighbor), respected themselves, the nature (the sun, water, green vegetation),

without fetishism, but as a result of a profound understanding of the world. At all levels of a town’s

structure, from “carsija” to intimacy of a home in domestic complex, some values were achieved

(although made to suit an individual and community in certain historical context), and remained

universal and permanent.

In the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, outside the towns, there was a huge kaleidoscope of living

pictures, recorded by great architecture: cottages (country houses) of rich individuals, fortified

domestic complexes of rich families (odzak), tanneries (taphana), fullers, dervish houses (tekija,

tekke), shops selling products of wrought iron (maidan), “hans” along the main roads, turbe –

mausoleums of known and unknown people, bridges, water taps, cemetaries.

It is important to emphasize a specific social institution, waqf (vakuf), endowment established by an

individual, but for common good. Vakuf (waqf), endowment, could be natural good (meadow,

forest, arable land) or a built real estate (mosque, medrese, house, shops, etc.). Establishing a vakuf

was accompanied by official record (vakufnama), where the content concerning legacy was

precisely defined, as well as the usage methods. Vakufs were considered to be permanent public

goods that could never be privatized.

SARAJEVO DURING THE OTTOMAN PERIOD

We consider that is very important to describe socio-historical and cultural “layers” of Sarajevo,

until the period when it had entered the Ottoman Empire’s sphere. Continuity of the human

presence in Sarajevo can be traced back to the Neolithic Period (around 7500 B.C.), the well known

Butmir Culture (location–Butmir, Sarajevo Field).4

4 In 1893, Austro‐Hungarian administration began building The School of Agriculture in Butmir, along Zeljeznica river, and on this occasion   extremely abundant remains from the neolithic pariod (dwelling pit with pottery) were found. 

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During the Bronze Age (3300 – 1800 B.C.) people from Sarajevo Field moved their settlements to

nearby hills: Trebevic hillsides (Zlatiste, Souk Bunar, Debelo Brdo, Gradina upon Bistrik), Fortica

at Ravne Bakije, Obhodja and Nahorevo. Illirians (200 years B.C. until 9 A.D.) built their

settlements upon hills: Gradac near Kotorac, and “gromilas” (Mocila, Veliki and Mali Orlovac,

Debelo Brdo).

Since the year 9 A.D. contemporary Sarajevo had been controlled by Romans, Dubrovnik province,

whose seat was in Salona. Abundant natural wealth (hot water springs, cold drinking water springs,

rivers, fertile soil, forests, and rich mines in nearby areas) was a good reason for a road Jadran –

Panonia to be built in the area. The oldest remains of Roman culture (ramparts, coins, spear ends

and arrows, keys) had been found on Debelo Brdo.5 Material remains of the Roman culture (house

foundations, roof tiles, coins) had also been found at Miljacka river bank, next to today’s Suada

Dilberovic Bridge. However, the main Roman settlement was Aqua S (today known as Ilidza); it

had Colonia status, and its inhabitants had the full status as citizens.6

Documents which remain to our day point that areas like Crkviste, Stupsko Brdo and village

Svrakino had large populations.

From the early Ottoman sources we can find a lot of information about the Middle Age

atmosphere.7 These sources mention Tomik (village – square), i.e. Atik Varos (the old town –

varos) or Eski market (The Old Market), which were located at today’s Ali Pasha Mosque and

Sanitary Institute; also other markets are mentioned, like Kotorovac and Bulagaj. It was the area of

Vrbosna’s feudal estate, which, concerning general conditions of that period had a fortified “town”

(the seat and home of local feudalist) with land properties and markets, where people did business

(mostly subsistence exchange).

This discovery soon got its promotion at the International Archeology and Antropology Conference, held in Sarajevo 

from 15th to 21

st of August, 1894. Some scientists find huge similarities between Butmir culture  and Crete/Mycena. 

5 An  inscription had been  found on a  ceramic pot: “Ego  iustus olarius, manus meas  rugetus et  fetetus”  (  I am a  real potter, and my hands are dirty but fruitful.) 

6 The remains of thermal spas with hypocaustum, mosaic floors, money, and jewellery had been found here too. 7 For example, Border (Krajiste) list of Isa‐bey Ishakovic (1455), Isa‐bey’s vakufnama (1462), Bosnian sancak list (1468). It must be emphasized that these documents do not mention two buildings, St. Peter’s Cathedral in Brdo (The Hill) and the Old Orthodox Church at Varos. The cathedral is, however, mentioned in a Charter of the Hungarian king Bela IV, while some  latter sources talk about the Old Orthodox Church’s renovation. This question remained open to science until today. 

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The fortified town was Hodided, located east of today’s Sarajevo, on cliffs upon Miljacka river.8

The Ottomans led by General Baraka seized the town in 1434. Immediately after seizing, Isa-bey

Ishakovic9 recognized all natural beauties of the area, and started introducing new contents, using

the pattern of his oriental culture. First he built Emperor’s mosque (Careva Mosque) in 1457, in

honor of sultan Mehmed II (El Fatih), and his saray (castle), which was the origin of today’s name –

Sarajevo.10 Isa-bey Ishakovic defined his architectural ideas first through endowment charters

(vakufnama) in 1462, and then realized them.11

He bought off Brodac village (today’s Bembasa) from the owners of that period, having given them

in exchange properties in the village Vrancici, near Hrasnica; he built tekke (tekija – dervish house)

at the bank of Miljacka river, musafirhana, Kolobara Han (hostel), the bridge, hamam next to

Careva Mosque, shops and mills on Miljacka, therefore set in grounds for carsija (town’s centre),

nucleus of the future Seher.12

The first Bosnian sancak-bey, Mehmed-bey Minetovic (1463-1464), at the right bank of the river

Miljacka (today’s “Bosnia” pharmacy) built his mesdzid (pray centre), forming the nucleus of the

first mahala in Sarajevo.

During the rule of sancak-bey, Bali-bey Malkocevic, (1475-1476), mesdzid was built at Bistrik, as

well as the spa and bridge on Miljacka. Ayas-bey (1470-1475 and 1476-1477) built a mesdzid

(location of today's “Central” hotel), mekteb (school), and hamam, therefore having formed mahala.

Jahja-pasha (during the rule of the sultan Bayazit II) built two mosques: the mosque in Komatin

(below Trebevic) and the mosque on Curcic hill. At that period Dzemat of Dubrovnik (Latinluk,

Frankluk) existed in Sarajevo, Christian mahala located downstream of today's Latin cuprija

(bridge).

Bosnian sancak-bey, Skender-pasha, built a tekke (tekija) of the Nakshibendi order, at the left bank

8 Vrhbosnia was first in the hands of Bosnian king, then royal Pavlovic family, and towards the arrival of the Ottomans in hands of Stjepan Vukcic‐Kosaca. 

9  Isa‐bey  Ishakovic at  first was a duke of “western parties”,  i.e. commanding officer  in western parts of  the Ottoman Empire (1440 – 1463), and later on he was a sancak‐bey (1464 – 1470). Anyway, during the long period of 4 centuries (1463 – 1878), when Bosnia was a part of the Ottoman Empire, more than 300 commanding officers were interchanged (sancak‐bey, beglerbey, pasha, vizier, most of whom originated from Bosnia. 

10 Sarayovasi 11 Isa‐bey Ishakovic formed his endowments in such a way...”that they cannot be sold nor donated, in no way can they pass  into  someone’s  full  ownership  (mulk),  but  they  are  to  forever  remain  as  it was  regulated  (in  vakufnama  – endowment charter)...until the God is the only lord of the Earth and everything on it; He is the proper descendant”. 

12  In  his  second  endowment  charter  (vakufnama)  Isa‐bey  Ishakovic described  Sarajevo  as  “war  fireplace  and  flower among cities, the city of fighters and ghazyas” (Islamic soldier) Sarajevo has until today remained the same!!!

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of Miljacka river (today's Skenderija), next to the tekke he also built imaret and musafirhana; all

facilities were supplied with water from the well Souk, with fully arranged water-supply line. At the

right bank he built a saray (castle) for himself, caravanserais with eleven shops on the ground floor,

and the bridge that was used to connect contents of the river banks. He had enriched these contents

by adding a few public fountains. Upon Kovaci he built a mesdzid and tidied a small river

Moscanica, having directed one armlet of the river to go through Vratnik and all the way to

Bascarsija.

His son Mustafa-pasha (1517) built the first domed mosque in Sarajevo (with vakuf in Akhisar =

Prusca for the maintainance).13 Soon Sarajevo got other mosques with domed structures:

Muslihudin Cekrecija's Mosque (1526) and Havadza Durak's Mosque, better known as Bascarsija's

Mosque (1528). During the 15th

and 16th

centuries more than 300 mosques were built, which meant

that the number of mahalas was the same.

The most significant period in Sarajevo’s urban development is the 16th

century, said to be the

“Golden Age” for Sarajevo. Gazi Husrev-bey14 had made Sarajevo a Seher. This great statesman,

Sufi and a constructor built his Begova – Bey’s Mosque in 1530.15 Opposite the mosque he built

Kurshumli medrese16 (1537) and next to it there was a library and hanikah (a sort of “Dervish

monastery”, where mystical philosophy had been taught). Besides these buildings Gazi Husrev-bey

also built a hamam, bezistan (cloth making and trading centre) (1543), Tashlihan (1543), imaret

(inns or hostels for pilgrims), musafirhana - overnight accommodation for visitors, around 200

shops, clock-tower and out of his vakuf’s fundings Morica Han and a hospital were built.

To maintain his endowments Gazi Husrev-bey left enormous assets at the territory of today’s

Greece; villages and estates around Serez (Rumelia), which he had inherited from his father, Ferhat-

bey, also around Jajce, Ostrovica, Kljuc, Tesanj, Bjelasnica mountain. In cash he left enormous sum

of gold and silver. He had lived in Curcic mahala, from where he had the most magnificent view on

13 This mosque is known as Skenderija; it was ravaged in 1936 and its minaret (tower attached to a mosque, used for call to prayer) in 1960. 

14 Gazi Husrev‐bey was born  in 1480, Serez  (Rumelia); he was a sancak‐bey of  the Bosnian sancak,  from 1521  to 1541, when he died in Sarajevo. Same as Suleyman II The Great had a great significance to the entire Ottoman empire, Gazi Husrev‐bey had it to Bosnia. 

15 It is thought that the architect of this mosque was Adzem Esir Ali, Persian, at that time leading architect in Istanbul. 16  It  is  thought  that  the architect of Kurshlumi medrese was  the greatest Ottoman constructor  (neimar), Mimar Sinan. Gazi Husrev‐bey  built  this medrese  in  honour  of  his mother,  Seljuk  Sultania  (daughter  of  Sultan  Bayazit  II);  this medrese was  therefore named Seljukia,  and  it got  the name  “Kurshumlia” because of  its  lead  covering. Above  the entrance into the medrese there was a “tarih” (inscription): “This building has been built by Gazi Husrev‐bey, commanding officer to fighters for religion, source of benefaction, pride of righteous, for all those seeking science, and for God’s love, the One who grants all prayers...” 

56

his endowments. He was buried in turbe (a form of mausoleum architecture), in the harem of his

mosque. Next to his turbe he had people built turbe for his first mutevelia, Murat-bey Tardic.

During the 16th

century many other important buildings were built in Sarajevo: Bosnian sancak-bey

Ferhad-bey Vukovic-Desisalic built his mosque (Ferhadija) in 1561; Budim beyler-bey (also a great

vizier and Bosnian sancak-bey) Ali-pasha built his mosque in 1561, one of the most beautiful

mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Above and beyond, it is important to mention the mosques with 4-canopy roofs, covered with

ceramic, built during the different periods when the Ottomans were in Sarajevo, and remained

beloved because of their exquisite beauty, derived from Bosnian indigenous architecture. Seih

Magribia, a Sufi, who had, together with Isa-bey Ishakovic, come to Sarajevo, had built his mosque

(1459), distinctive because of its barrel-like ceiling, outside hidden by a 4-canopy roof. Gazi

Husrev-bey’s hatib, Diwan-khatib Haydar (1536 – 1545) had built at Vratnik his endowment (with

Hadzi Mosque-1540-1561) situated at the left bank of Miljacka river, Alifakovac plinth17. It owes

its significance to being the place where people of Sarajevo went to say goodbye to those going on a

pilgrimage (Hadz).

At the beginning of the 16th

century in Sarajevo, the Old Orthodox church was built at Varos, and at

the end of the 16th

century the first synagogue, Il Kal Grandi. At that time, except Kurshlumi

medrese, Sarajevo had 4 other medreses: Firuz-bey's, Mehmed-bey's, Isa-bey's and Kemal-bey's

medrese.

During the period of 15th

and 16th

centuries in Sarajevo great number of very important communal

and economic facilities were built: besides already mentioned Gazi Husrev-bey's bezistan, there was

also Brusa bezistan - an ancient silk trading centre (endowment of Rustem-pasha, the Great Vizier

and son in law of Suleyman II the Magnificient); bridges on Miljacka (Isa-bey Ishakovic = Careva

cuprija (The Emperor's Bridge), Skender-pasha's, Latin Cuprija (bridge), Cobanija, Cumurija, Seher

Cehaina's Bridge); during the middle of the 15th

century the first water-supply line was built and

reconstructed in 16th

century; also, there were sebils (special fountains), sadrvans (wooden fountain

17 Alifacovac  cemetary  (Musafir  cemetary)  is,  except  its  great  position  upon  Bembasa,  also  famous  for  the  fact  that eminent people from Sarajevo (kadija –  judges, muderis, muftija – central religious chief, esnafs – tradesmen) during the period of 5 centuries were burried there. 

57

outside a mosque) and numerous water taps18

During the 17th

century Sarajevo was still under constant construction works, but of weaker

intensity. Ibrahim ef.Bistrigija (dervish of Nakshibendi order, educated in Istanbul) built hanikah

(inn) at Bistrik, and Hadzi-Sinan tekke in Sagrdzija (1638) that still represents the beauty of today's

street. Because of the war for Crete (Kandian war, 1645) there was a crisis in the Ottoman Empire.

During the17th

century many travel writers had been visiting Bosnia and Sarajevo, both from the

west and from the east.19Famous Turkish travel writer, Evlija Celebija, passed through Sarajevo in

1660, and thrilled by the city he wrote in his records: “There are many towns in this world called

Saray: Ak Saray, Tabe-saray between Persia, Djurdjistan and Degestan, Sehir-saray at the bank of

Erdelja river, when you cross field Hajhat, now in Moskowia, Vize-saray in Rumelia and others.

But this stony Bosnian Seher, Sarajevo, is more advanced than all those, more beautiful and lively.

In the lower and upper part of Seher run borderless and countless waters, decorated at all sides by

numerous yards, that look like rose or heaven gardens...“ Although Celebija liked to exaggerate in

his writings, in this record of Sarajevo we can recognize most of the facts that even today represent

the beauty of the city.20

In 1697 there was a huge destruction of Sarajevo: Austrian general, Prince Eugen Savoyski, after

victory over the Ottomans at Senta, suddenly invaded Sarajevo, burnt and robbed it. Out of

everything that had been built for more than 2 centuries, only stones remained non-burnt! (Savoyski

used the treasure sacked from Sarajevo to build himself a huge castle Belvedere in Vienna).

Conditions in Sarajevo during the period of 18th

to 19th

centuries reflect the state of the Ottoman

Empire, descending; rebellions were often, severe authority reprisals, authority arbitrariness by

purposely provoking incidents, corruption. Local beys were encouraged, and they demanded

18 The most famous Sarajevo poet from the end of the 16

th and beginning of the 17

th century, Muhamed Nerkesija wrote: 

“There, it seems to a man that  can live long, because in Sarajevo, on more than a thousand places, water runs from the well of the eternity.” 

19 Famous  travel writers  from France  (Le Fevre, Quiclet, Chaumatte Des Fosses, Charles Partusier, Felix de Baaujour, Lekler,  and  others)  had  been writing  inspiring  texts,  expressing  their  enthusiasm  about  Bosnian  towns,  arranged according to the oriental Ottoman culture. 

20 Overwhelmed by the image of The Old Bridge in Mostar (built in 1557 – 1566), Evlija Celebija Wrote:  ...“ This bridge was built completely like the arch of rainbow,  Ah, My God, is there anything similar to it in this world!?  One connoisseur looked at him with admiration and told him the following verse:  „ And we are going over that bridge,  Over which the world went, my Sultan!” The year of  974/1556. 

58

autonomy of their properties. The Captain of Gradacac, Husein-captain Gradascevic, was ahead of

the movement for the autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bey of Sarajevo, Mustafa Zlatar, was

his follower, having accepted him as the Bosnian Vizier. However, autonomy advocates were

defeated precisely in Sarajevo (Zli Stup, 1832), after what the winner, Kara Mahmud Hamdi-pasha,

transferred the vizier's seat in Sarajevo, at Gorica. Disobedience of Bosnian beys was roughly

suppressed by Omer Lufti-pasha Latas, who demonstrated all his cruelty and cunningness by the

way he executed Herzegovinian vizier Ali-pasha Rizvanbegovic.

Efforts to quietly perform a reform, led by a few Ottoman viziers left in Bosnia (Ahmed Dzevdet-

pasha and Topal Sherif Osman-pasha),are worth mentioning, but they did succeed to ensure the

presence of the Ottomans once the Austro-Hungarian monarchy came. Their troops, according to

the Berlin Congress Decision, 29th

August, 1878, entered Sarajevo and broke the resistance of its

citizens at Ali – pasha's Mosque.

DISCUSSION

There are a lot of questions imposed by huge historic fact such as the Ottoman Empire:

1. What made members of the Central-Asian Oguz tribe to move west from the

Kirgiz Steppes?

2. What were the characteristics of the Oguz tribe people to firmly settle at new geographical

areas (Horasan, Central Anatolia, Little Asia), where other great cultures had already lived?

3. What is that inner strength and exact ability of the Ottomans that enabled a steady seizing of

new territories and setting up oriental Islamic culture?

4. What is the reason for the Ottoman Empire's longevity?

5. Why did the Ottoman Empire collapse?

6. What are the general values of a civilization that were brought by the Ottoman Empire and

given to humankind as heritage?

7. To what extent is the Ottoman Empire still present in the contemporary historical and cultural

happenings?

Each of these questions mentioned above is very huge and complex. The History, History of Art

and Culture, philosophy, politics, anthropology were giving and are still giving answers to all these

questions.

59

The History records sudden, short and bloody intrusions of one people at the territory of another

that already had developed and settled their culture.21

In so doing, the people intruded other countries, robbed and destroyed material goods, killed people

living on a specific territory, and when done they moved forward, with the same scenario. Their

appearance is very much similar to a natural cataclysm, which manifests its extreme action in a

relatively short period of time.

Why is the coming of the Oguz tribe (first as the Seljuks, then as the Ottomans) historically so

unique? In our opinion, reasons need to be looked for in the anthropological analysis of the

Ottomans, i.e. their philosophy and religion, therefore their general view of life.

Islam as a religion, system of values and a view of life Turks accepted during the middle of the 7th

century; according to Islam, person is just a user of all goods in the world, made by one God. A

human being to the God is the same as any other creature, like ants, birds, elephants, or a plant for

example, but the only difference is that, by the God’s will, human beings are parted from other

souls by their intellect, and as such they are ordained as regents on Earth. All people on Earth are

Adem and Hava’s descendants, therefore brothers and sisters; difference in skin color is actually

planned by the God, so as to give a beauty and dynamics in human lives; the thing that actually

21  For  example, Asian Hixes  conquerors,  around  1648 B.C.,  invaded The Old Egypt,  settled  their dynasty  in  the  15

th 

century, with Avarisa as their capital. They permanently left the historic scene around 1540 B.C.  

  Skites, in the period of 7th to 3

rd century A.D., organised their existence northern from the Black Sea, but they had been 

permanently removed from the historic scene by Sarmates, the people History does not even know.  

  German tribe Vizigoths, that populated Dacia during the 3rd century (today’s Romania) and triumphed over Romans in 

378, are considered  to,  together with  the Ostrogoths  (4th  to 6

th century),like barbarians, have destroyed  the powerful 

Roman Empire.  

  Huns (370‐455) and Avars (5th  ‐ 8

th   century), people that relatively shortly were considered as great warriors; Avars 

were destroyed by Karl The Great in 8th century.  

  After  Kolumbo  “discovered” America  in  1492,  people  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  later  on  other  nations  from Europe, literally speaking genetically vanquished indigenous population, settled their existance there, interested only in physical space and natural resources.  (In a similar way Serbs  treated Bosniacs  in Bosnia and Herzegovina  (1992 – 1995) and, in Kosovo (1999) towards Albanians).  

  From Equador to Chile, in 15th and 16

th centuries, there was an Indian nation that lived there, Inks with Cuze as their 

capital. In 1533 they were almost destroyed by Spanish conquerors, even though they, at that time, had an advanced civilisation.  

  Mayas, were also Indian people that populated peninsula Yucatan and borders of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Classical period of their abundant civilisation marked by exquisite knowledge of mathematics and astronomy, as well 

as great achievments in architecture and other arts) lasted from the 3rd to 9

th century. Exquisitely preserved cities like 

Tikal, Copan, Uaxactun, Quirigua, Pedras Negras (from the 3rd century), then  Chichen Itza and Mayapan (from the 9

th 

century)  still  hide many  secrets.  Today Mayas  exist  in  small  numbers,  as  lingustic  group,after  the  Spanish  had destroyed the basis of their political and religious life. 

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differentiates people is their relation (obedience) with God, and the number of good deeds that one

does, where the deeds are good if one does them (in the name of the God) for the good of as many

people as possible, and not with the intention to gain a personal reputation in the eyes of others. The

visible activities on Earth (consisting of architecture, construction, agriculture, mining) one should

practice so as not to perish natural beauties and lassie. not to violate the nature, but to make

“symbiotic” relationship where one could have different benefits, while the nature would have

“benevolent” upgrade. This world is just a phase in human life, while “the other world” (after

physical death) is eternal; if a person is aware of mission entrusted by the God, person will do only

good things in this world, ensuring a place in Heaven (Dzennet), in “the other world”. A person

should use all disposed richness, given (as “nature”) by the God; asceticism, abandonment of any

benefits is not dear to God; practicing science is one of the most approved human deeds. As long as

people follow the regulated principles (given by the God’s Book, Kur’an,and earlier ones like

Tevrat – Tora and Indzil - Evandjelje (Gospel)) they are protected, otherwise it will not be difficult

for the God to change the world’s population by replacing it with another, better one.

If we looked for these (shortly presented here) principles in social structure of the Ottoman Empire,

as well as in its civilization heritage, we could find answers to most of the above mentioned

questions. At the top of the Ottoman Empire’s pyramid there is a sultan; as a leader (khalif) of his

community (consisting not only of ethnic Ottomans, but all followers of the Book), he must be a

responsible and righteous ruler, since he himself is the God’s slave!22

Highlighting collectiveness as a main principle of life in human community, in urbanism is realized

through mechanism of a basic town matrix, according to which architectural programs are intended

to be used in general, social usage (big mosques, medreses (theological schools), bezistans (trading

places), shops, hamams (public baths), caravanserais, hans (hostelries), imarets (inns), clock-

towers) in the centre (carsija) and programs for individual human usage (mahala) on outskirts of a

town. Thereby, mahala had its contents for collective usage (mosque or mesdzid, mekteb, grocery,

22 On a tarih (inscription) dedicated to Suleyman II The Great, there is a description of a sultan, maybe one of the most distinctive descriptions of the Ottoman Empire:  “ I am the God’s slave and the sultan of this world   By the God’s mercy I am the head of the community. The God’s grace and Mohammed’s mudziza (skill)   are my fellow travellers. I am Mekka and Medina’s Khalif.   I am shah in Baghdad, and tzar in Byzantium, and in Egypt   I am the sultan who sends fleets into the seas of Europe,   North Africa and India. I am the sultan who took the crown   and throne of Hungary and made them my obidient slaves...”  Similarly, modesty and obedience to the God had been expressed by the greatest neimar (constructor) of the Ottoman Empire, one of the most ingenious architects in the human history, Mimar Sinan; he signed off his  writings with...“Poor and submissive slave of the God, Sinan”. 

Berber-shop, bakery, water tap) mostly organized at bigger or smaller squares (mejdans).

Private zone was made of individual home complexes, which, when it comes to rich individuals,

had public area (selamluk) and strictly private one (haremluk).23

Image 5. Complex Begovina, Stolac

Contents for the collective usage were maximally exposed to a human eye, ear, touch, they were

“feet’s floor”, while private ones (haremluk inside a house) were strictly protected. Maybe this

tension between public and private was the main reason for richness of dispositional solutions

concerning house complexes, especially solutions concerning apertures, interior decoration of yards

(avlija) and other details of urbanism in mahalas and house design.24

For a successful functioning of the Ottoman Empire’s social system (spread on 8 mil. km2

during

the period of Suleyman II The Great), efficacy in leading wars and huge architectural ventures, we

think that so called devshirme-system is responsible for the success; it is about „selecting“ small

children (age 9 to 12), who were looked by special men from the Empire's administration, and after

being found the children were taken to Istanbul, where they attended elite schools, taught from the

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23 Such partition existed in the living culture of Ancient Greece, where public (male) part was called andronitis, and private (female) ginakonaitis. 

24 For further details concerning this subject look for in: Ahmet Hadrovic, Defining Architecrural Space on the model of the oriental style city house in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia, Amazon. Com., 2007.   

62

best teachers different sciences, skills and gained a religious education. And the only condition was

that the children had never seen the city (assuming that they had psycho-physical strength and

intelligence). These children were turned into Islam, whereat their ethnic and religious origin had

never been hidden.

After having finished the school (which, according to children's taste, resulted in a great variety of

specialties) those young people took places in military, administrative, judicial, architectural,

medical and other services of the Ottoman Empire. They had many perspectives of getting a

promotion, fame and richness (under the condition that they were loyal to their Sultan and the

Empire); also it was known that it would be fatal for them if they committed the slightest

disobedience.25

(Today, having the help of institutions giving scholarships to talented children, rich American and

European countries are selecting the top experts world wide. General living conditions, possibility

of scientific, vocational and business affirmation in the developed countries, makes them not just

loyal citizens of a „new homeland“, but they are also „dear sons“ of their mother nations and

countries, and finally it helps them become cosmopolitans).

An important dimension in the Ottoman Empire's system of values was a religious and ethnic

tolerance. Although the tolerance (from the point of the original teaching of Islam) was something

that was understandable, from today's point of view high act of civilization seems to be the

acceptance of the Jews, after they were expelled from Spain and Portugal (1492). Many Jewish

communities came to Sarajevo, as well as the Bosnia and Herzegovina. Similarly, the freedom to

believe and confess was granted at the whole territory of the Empire.

Temples of other religions were not demolished; if they did not serve the religious purpose they

were transformed into mosques, where small changes were made (adding minarets (tower),

covering icons with new paint, transforming altars into mihrabs (Niche in a mosque, indicating the

qibla, the direction in which a Muslim shall perform his salat), adding mimber (High, hooded pulpit

from which the noon Friday sermon is preached), etc). Some temples found there, architectural

25 The most famous Bosnian (Serb by ethnicity, and Orthodox by his parentsʹ religion), who, with the help of devshirme‐system, got to Istanbul, was Mehmed‐pasha Sokolovic. He was born around 1500 in Sokolovici village (his boy name was Bajo). He had served in the Ottoman Empire for 50 years; out of that, for 14 years (1565 – 1579) he was the Great vizier to three sultans. He gave 3 magnificent bridges to his Bosnia: The Bridge on Drina (1571 – 1572), The Bridge on 

Zepa ( end of the 16th century), and Goatʹs Bridge (Kozja Cuprija) on Miljacka, near Sarajevo (1566)  

  Great architect Mimar Sinan (1489‐1588) was Greek by ethnicity. As the Empireʹs chief architect (mimarbasha) he was nominated by Suleyman II The Great in 1529; he served to three sultans. 

63

masterpieces, were taken as a pattern for future building of mosques (example Aya Sofia in

Istanbul).

Bosnia and Herzegovina can be proud of the fact that on this territory the Ottoman Empire

demonstrated in the best way all virtues of a religion tolerance. Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror,

handed the Charter (Anhama) to Fra(nciscan) Andjel Zvizdovic, in 1463, at Milodarsko field,

which, with a loyalty statement, granted the new conqueror freedom to move, ownership rights,

religious denomination and confession rights for the Church and all vassals, as long as they were

loyal to the new government.

Epilogue

With this short review of the Ottoman Empire’s history and cultural heritage, the author wanted to

express his content concerning the cooperation between the Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo

University and Faculty of Architecture, Black Sea University in Trabzon, which was initialized at

the end of 2006 by Şengϋl Öymen Gϋr, Ph.D. Even though the author has dedicated the biggest part

of his scientific research to the exploration of universal values of the Ottoman Empire's architecture

(especially those examples at the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina), he is aware of the fact that

he said very little with this review. He would be more pleased if he could have initiated at least one

question that could be the reason for future scientific and professional cooperation between the two

faculties, for mutual benefits.

64

65

URBAN INTERFACES OF SKENDERIJA, SARAJEVO

Pavle Krstić

SARAJEVO

Sarajevo is situated between Skenderija and the Vrbanja Bridge on the left bank of the Miljacka

River. More precisely, Skenderija itself is a self contained and defined area. The stretch of the left

Miljacka bank, as well as the whole left bank, occupies the northern slopes of the Trebevic

Mountain. Consequently, the area does not boast sufficient exposition to sun. Smaller part of the

locality around Skenderija is a plateau of less than 100 m in width, whereas the remaining, bigger

part is a slope descending towards the road alongside the river. The overall impression of the

locality is steep, narrow and not sunny.

In terms of the urban morphology, the locality is defined by the existence of the two junctions, two

bridges over the Miljacka; Skenderija and Vrbanja. This stretch of the river, namely its left bank,

constitutes the least favorable geomorphologic entity within the central town zone.

Despite the above mentioned deficiencies, the locality is unique because of the scope for new

developments. Marijin Dvor, occupying the right river bank, has been chosen as the future town

centre. Thus, Sarajevo presents the natural background frame for the forthcoming developments

which will hopefully contribute to its appeal.

The east fringe of the locality seamlessly connects it with the historical city core. Skenderija zone,

as well as the Skenderija Bridge itself, is positioned on probably the most attractive site in the

whole town, where the Kosevo Spring flows into the Miljacka River, the intersection of the

longitudinal valley and the biggest transversal valley of Kosevo. This area in its geomorphologic

sense posses the biggest potential of all the junctions in the town as the intersection of the north –

south and east – west directions.

The western fringe of the location, the Vrbanja Bridge, connects it with the west (new) part of the

town, which has been mainly built after the Second Word War. The bridge itself presents a junction

of the local roads. Even though the Trebevic slopes come closest to the river bank exactly here, the

66

significance of the roads between Marijin Dvor, on the right and Kovacici, and the old brewery, on

the left, determined the existence of this junction.

PAST – PRESENT

Looked at historically, the area between Skenderija and Vrbanja as well as Marijin Dvor across the

river, had been uninhabited for a long time period (the Middle Ages). The geographical maps dating

from the 15th century document its rural character. The 16th century maps (from the onset of the

Ottoman presence) show the Ali Pasha Mosque and the graveyard (mezari - tomb stones) situated

around mosque, as well as where the present cultural-sport centre Skenderija is.

During the Ottoman administration, this area was strictly the urban fringe. Following the Austro –

Hungarian occupation, the wider area of Marijin Dvor turned more attractive offering the much

needed scope for the town development. Apart from the Marijijn Dvor itself, named after a palace

built around that time, the town sprawled in the direction of Kovacici and towards the (today

nonexistent) old brewery. The left bank, partly because of the unfavorable geomorphologic

conditions and also due to being shady, remained uninhabited except for a stretch of the Tekija

Street near Skenderija.

Years between two world wars were relatively uneventful in the locality. The era of Moderna, just

prior and post the Second World War, somehow did not leave much trace in the zone possibly due

to its above mentioned weak features while the town experienced the hasty growth (seven miles

steps) to the west of Kovacici. Today, this area is deemed a bridge connecting the traditional with

the contemporary urban parts with all the features a town center requires. Although the very idea

has not been completely realized, the potentials of the zone are obvious.

Eastern border of the locality, partly thanks to its links with the old town core, and partly because of

the short stretch of somewhat wider flat terrain, has been more urbanized.

The present – modern - time has resulted in a greater transformation of this locality. The 70’s saw

the construction of the sport and commercial complex with the same name – Skenderija. Apart from

the sport and commercial units, there are cultural ones as well as a big square suitable for a variety

of gatherings – typical of that time. Because of its size and scale, the complex stands out from the

rest of the urban texture. The disproportion to such a scale can be justified by its very position and

the scope for future transformations of the wider zone, in an agreement with the contemporary

development plans.

The western border of the locality – The Vrbanja Bridge – is far less favorably situated in terms of

its geomorphology, as cited above. The added value to the significance of the site is the proximity

of the Bosnian parliament as well as the planned sites for the future town centre.

Image 1. Skenderija / Marijin Dvor area map from second half of 15th century (*)

Image 2. Skenderija / Marijin Dvor area map from second half of 16th century (*)

TRADITIONAL - MODERN

The locality on the left bank of Miljacka, starting from Skenderjia downstream towards Vrbanja,

has a few buildings from the Austro Hungarian period. These objects, apart from ambient, do not

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bear any other significance. A number of these objects have been replaced with modern edifices and

this process goes on.

When considering the presence of the architectural heritage, the whole situation of the right

riverbank is somewhat better although, tradition retreats before the modern. The old electrical

power station (the first in this part of Europe) still stands by the Skenderjia Bridge. The stretch of

the Gunduliceva Street (Kotromaniceva – new name) is badly neglected even though a number of

buildings from the Secession (the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century) had

successfully resisted devastation until 15 years ago. The current plans for the heritage preservation

of this locality do not seem to consider this stretch.

Further downstream towards Vrbanja there is also an old tobacco factory, presently in a derelict

state, dating from the same period (the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century). There

have been no plans for its reconstruction (preservation) even though the 1991 architectural-urban

design competition received several interesting propositions as how to incorporate the old factory

into an integral design and also include existing objects as well as the new ones.

It can be concluded that in this area, the traditional succumbs to the requirements of the present time

that demands drastic urban transformation.

EAST – WEST

This zone has experienced a multitude of influences coming from both east and west. The

contributing factors can primarily be seen as two folded. Firstly, and taking the wider perspective

into account, the whole Balkan region, and BH in particular, had been at a receiving end

(throughout its whole history) to merely marginal echoes of the main events (influences), coming

from both east and west. Those influences had been affecting all aspects of life such as culture,

science, architecture, art etc. Secondly, when considering the Skenderija locality (within the town),

it comes across as a transition from the phase with predominantly eastern influences to a more

contemporary one built in pro western fashion.

Despite the aforementioned influences, the locality has been spared from almost any developmental

changes mainly due to geomorphologic features. Furthermore, during the Ottoman administration,

the locality was on the fringe of the urban zone. Later during the Austro- Hungarian presence, the

town began to develop further afar. The earlier mentioned geomorphologic situation determined the

new possible directions of the town growth, such as in Kosevo Valley, Kovacici (left bank), along

the right riverbank, Marijin Dvor and New Sarajevo (the Army Barracks, Train station and Dolac

Malta).

On the present site of the commercial-cultural and sports centre Skenderija, and as clearly

evidenced in the maps dating from the second half of the 16th century, there used to be a mosque.

The area is said to have been abundant with lush vegetation (orchards) and there had been even

some sports courts, which remained there until the onset of the socialist period (after the Second

World War).

At the opposite end of this locality and beyond the Vrbanja Bridge, which is actually beyond the

scope of this study, another site worth mentioning is the old Jewish graveyard.

Adjacent to the Skenderija site, a stretch of Tekija Street dating from Austro-Hungarian era has

been preserved. It retained the ambient appeal but unfortunately, is in a sad state. The current plans

for the stretch suggest its removal, and replacing it with a modern hotel. It should be noted that this

street was called “the Zone of Red Lamps” around the end of the Austro-Hungarian governance.

(So that makes it historical, is that it?)

At the end of Austro-Hungarian administration and partly after the end of the First World War, the

far end of the locality (downstream from the Vrbanja Bridge - Kovacici) was where a development

of villas was established.

Image 3. Skenderija / Marijin Dvor area, 1898. From city map (*)

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GLOBALISATION – LOCALISATION

The building of the commercial and sports centre Skenderija (in the 70’s) resulted in the

disappearance of the remaining features of the local ambient. It can be argued that the globalization

process started fairly early and continued at a quick pace. Although the whole Skenderija complex

still stands out by it size and design, it has never actually been finished. Not all of the initially

designed units have been completed. A recent competition for the completion and realization of this

complex offered several interesting ideas.

Bearing in mind that Skenderija complex annually hosts about 10 international trade fairs

(representing mainly foreign businesses); the loss of local impact and traditional values comes to

prominence.

The only solution to counteract or minimize the globalization of this locality, will be to focus on

encouraging implementation of the traditional approach for the residential developments as has

been used in other steep zones of the town. This will include the following principles: low density

buildings, right to view, houses surrounded by vegetation and the priority of pedestrians over

traffic. All of these relate to urban scale, while the architectural scale could tolerate contemporary

trends.

THEORY – HISTORY

Historically, Sarajevo is a relatively new city. It was established (on its present location) after the

arrival of the Ottomans in the 15th century and a steady growth followed.

Before the Ottoman period, the wider area of the present city was scattered with numerous smaller

individual settlements dating from various periods. These, however, never managed to amalgamate

into a composite bigger one as it was the case with many European cities (Rome, Paris etc).

Therefore, only with the arrival of the Ottoman reign, this narrow river valley surrounded by high

mountains, becomes a city (in the sense of modern city). The urbanization of the area develops at a

fast pace and very successfully. Since the city grew from scratch, it was possible to implement

fully all the principles of the functional organization typical for the time and cultural trend (such as

town core/downtown in the valley and residential areas on the sloped outskirts). There are several

examples of other cities established on previously uninhabited sites. Such cases usually resulted as

direct products of political decisions where newly acquired territories were to be colonized. These

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towns primarily grew in areas deemed suitable in terms of defense and communications as well as

for the forthcoming control of the wider region. The absence of the architectural and cultural

heritage actually made it easier to apply the principles of the urban theory and practice

characteristic for the time and contingent with the origin of new administrator. Precisely this

happened in Sarajevo.

Ever since the time of Isa Bey (Ishakovic) administration- Sarajevo has been experiencing different

cultural, architectural and other influences. Until present time it has accumulated a variety of

cultural and architectural layers that integrate into a well tuned whole.

Specific limiting factors that determine growth and development of Sarajevo are its geomorphologic

features. The city occupies a narrow river valley which only slightly opens up to form Sarajevo

Field. The relatively high mountains surrounding the city inhibit the more favorable climatic

influences. At its widest, the valley does not exceed 2 km (having north – south orientation), and

measures some 12 km in the east – west direction. As the city was established at the east end of the

valley, the only possible direction for its expansion was the linear one towards the west. With the

spreading of developments the valley became too small and consequently people felt

claustrophobic. Under these conditions, determining and applying successful urban planning

solutions becomes more complex and requires great effort and maximum involvement of various

experts.

Geomorphologic conditions in the Miljacka valley also determined uneven development of the left

and right river banks.

Although the city started its growth on the left bank, where the park At-Mejdan, the Emperor’s

Mosque and Konak ( official BH government residency ) are, soon after it moved further and

continued its expansion along and around the right river bank.

The recurring gaps in the urban fabric, difficult communications in the longitudinal sense as well as

contact with the slopes are all typical for the left riverbank. The reason for these drawbacks can be

found in frequent and steep slopes of the Trebević Mountain adjacent to the river. Imbalance of the

development of the two river banks is present throughout the traditional part of the town and it ends

after the Vrbanja Bridge where the left river bank finally escapes the tight / constricting slopes of

Trebević.

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Further downstream, the situation is reversed. The left river bank developed without any disruptions

whereas the right one, although without any spatial limitations, sporadically experienced gaps in the

urban fabric. Those formed as a direct consequence of the necessary inherited industrial and

infrastructural systems.

With all these factors present, the stretch of the left river bank between Skenderjia and Vrbanja,

retains a prominent place and forms a natural border of the planned city centre on Marijin Dvor, just

on the opposite river bank.

This area, being a steep slope ascending straight from the river, seems to possess the ability to

create a unique and dramatic stage background for the planned city centre.

Apart from these design scopes, the locality has further, not less important features and

requirements. One of the first ones is the problematic transversal communication on the locality, as

well as the difficult connections for the Skenderija centre and equally for the Vrbanja Bridge.

The traffic problems around Skenderija centre present themselves in the inappropriate solution for

the delivery access to the complex insufficient parking spaces, as well as the interruption to

pedestrian path between the square in front of Skenderija and the right river bank.

In the Vrbanja zone, there is a junction adjacent to the bridge, and a bit further, some 30 m away

another junction leading to the south bypass. The proximity of the two junctions resulted in the

complicated traffic flow. A possible solution to this issue would be to combine the two junctions

into one and thus considerably ease the tight spots and reduce the congestion.

THE SUMMARY

Geomorphologic features of the locality, the level of the technological advancement or the

intermitted breaks in political dominance of several various administrations resulted in the locality

being neglected from the different investors / architects at respective times.

The Ottoman administration, having established and contributed to the city development, simply

did not have enough time to finalize and put into practice the planning of this area.

Equally, the Austro-Hungarian administration, which greatly added to the construction, growth and

organization of the city to European standards, was also short of time to incorporate this locality so

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that it fits into the rest of the urban fabric of the city. The planning intentions of the Austro-

Hungarian administration significantly exceeded its realization. This administration simply could

not envisage the brevity (historically seen) of its presence in these regions. As a consequence, some

urban developments, particularly those established during this administration, still seem unfinished.

The socialist era, (begun immediately after the Second World War until recently) brought with itself

overambitious ideas; often lacking patience to attend to “less important” details and eventually

ignores them throughout its “conquest” of the space.

Meanwhile, the problems around Marijin Dvor escalated to reach the proportions of the Gordi’s

Knot. Not even the numerous architectural – urban design competitions during the past fifty years,

managed to solve the myriad of problems.

Even though a new Alexander the Great has not yet announced his presence here, it seems that the

knot is beginning to undo itself. A few last years saw the gradual improvement of the situation in

the Marijin Dvor area. The time will tell with how much success.

Following the other two competitions (one for Marijin Dvor in 1997 and the other for the former

Army Barracks in 2000) the site of the Army Barracks was allocated to the University and a smaller

section where the American Embassy should be built. The sequence between UNITIC centre and

Holliday Inn Hotel has also been defined in plans submitted for another two architectural –urban

competitions. What remains to be implemented are the suggestions of several designs (according to

1997. competition) for the part of Marijin Dvor, where the old tobacco factory area was. They

address the extensions on the other riverbank, which is actually the focus of this joint study, and

will undoubtedly attract more attention for the potential investment and realization.

When all the valuable sites and locations within this area get allocated respective purposes (this

process finally started) no restrictions, as have been present so far, will hinder its planning and

construction. Thus the process of urbanization in the contact zone (targeted location) situated in the

very centre, will be finalized.

(*) The maps are taken from the book:

“Arhitektura stambenih palata austrougarskog perioda u Sarajevu”; SPASOJEVIĆ, Borislav;

Svjetlost, Sarajevo 1988.

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INTERSECTIONS: URBAN FORM AND PUBLIC SPACE

Nihad H. Čengıć

INTRODUCTION

The background of the theory and practical reflections on looking at the issue of space given in this

text is developed on two bases. The first base is that Bosnia and Herzegovina is "post-war" country

- the war which is taking place in Europe at the turn to XXI century - and the country which is

determinately characterized by its cultural complexity as the challenge and the advantage at the

same time. The state of this society as well as the development of the war is strongly influenced by

European continent countries. In fact, international players have designed the system of the State,

its administrative/cultural borders and divided cities26. Practically, completely new society was

created and pushed to operate in the way which is contrary to its culture27. The second base is the

ontology on the state of the city in economically developed countries28, its appearances and

processes generally defined as unsustainable.

The simplification of this complex issue can be expressed by two main processes which

characterize the state of B&H society today: (1) transition from more public orientated society,

toward more individual orientated society, and (2) transition from more planned economy, toward

more open economy (Figure 1.).

26 In 1995 the Peace Agreement (Dayton and Paris) was signed with the aim to stop the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Cities of Sarajevo and Mostar are accepted as divided cities - administratively and nationally, and numerous cities are divided nationally, opposite to its historical cultural nature. 27 In the European Spatial Development Plan (EC, 1999: 7) it is stated that: "The characteristic territorial feature of the European Union (EU) is its cultural variety, concentrated in a small area. This distinguishes it from other large economic zones of the world, such as the USA, Japan and MERCOSUR. This variety – potentially one of the most significant development factors for the EU – must be retained in the face of European integration. Spatial development policies, therefore, must not standardize local and regional identities in the EU, which help enrich the quality of life of its citizens." But, shockingly, European countries did not show understanding for cultural diversity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely its multiculturality as raison d'etre. 28 European strategies toward sustainable cities are integrated in this base.

Figure 1: Transition of economy and pressure of interests

Consequently, new perceptions on property issues are generated and that have significant if not

driving force in building urban form today. It is observed that these socio-economic transitions have

direct consequences on spatial and social processes and appearances. In addition to this, transition

of the society is strongly pressured from international and global side and their interests of profit

(Figure 2.).

Culture and the state of the city as base for planning for the future is complex one. It will be shown

here that open space i.e. public space is appropriate tool of simplification and materialization of

processes. This space is intersection itself, containing or being a part of different scales of

intersections, but dominantly of conflictive nature. Is there a reason to investigate the phenomenon

of intersections? The intention is to give one in this paper.

Figure 2: Cultural shock: Bosnian girl29 and Eu.thanasia30

29 Sejla Kameric (2003) Graffiti written by an unknown Dutch soldier on an army barracks wall in Potocari, Srebrenica, 1994/95. Royal Netherlands Army troops, as a part of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-95, were responsible for protecting the Srebrenica safe area. Photography by Tarik Samarah 30 Kurt & Plasto (2003) From the collection Greetings for Europe

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WHOSE CITY IS IT?

The phenomenon of urban issue today can be conceptualized in the general question as it was

beautifully raised from sociologist Sassen (1998: xx) side, who is asking31: Whose city is it?

There is a variety of issues related to the urbanism, as many as there are definitions on urbanism,

and which are expressing the views, visions and strivings of all those individuals and groups who

are involved in the field. But, there are also those who are not in the field, and yet they claim their

direct involvement within the decision making process, and who are driven by personal profit only.

General question raised, Giddings (1998: 3) is answering in the manner which reflects the concept

of space advocated in this paper. This paper is searching for physical urban element which can

possibly be attributed as permanent value and resources for economical and social processes. He is

stating: "Urban spaces have always been places for the community rather than the individual and

therefore should be public rather than private in nature". The power of public nature of urban space

rest surely in the public property, namely its function and aesthetics, as well as its quantity and

distribution.

Cities of today are going through dramatic changes. These changes are caused by and in the same

time are influencing spatial and social domains of urban environment. Here we state that main

driving forces of these changes are: (1) the nature of economic activities, described as the

imperfections32 (Stiglitz, 2003: 3) and (2) privatization of decision making process (Cengic, 2007:

4) within institutions of public domain.

Cities, the centers of decision making, are continuously pressured by the problems of unsustainable

development. At the turn to XX century, urban environment was characterized as "physically

deformed, distorted, and growingly immoral and degraded" (Schubert, 2004: 9). The responds to the

urban crisis were searched for in the same time in the Garden Cities of Fritch, as a revolt to socially

destructive banking system, and of Ebenezer, as the respond to evident degradation of the quality of

urban life. Today, one hundred years later, the respond to urban crisis is hoped to be found in the

31 Originally, Sassen relates the question to the ‘de-nationalizing’ of urban space, and the formation of new claims by transnational actors. 32 Stiglitz is also arguing that imperfections are evident within planning domain as well. He is exploring two themes: (1) market failures which not only lead to inefficiencies (Pareto inefficient outcomes) but the incidence of those inefficiencies bears disproportionately on the poor; and (2) government failures in the advanced industrial countries, which too result in Pareto inefficiencies, but the incidence again is mainly on the poor.

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growing number of gated cities33, whose appearance is encouraged by: "innovative" developers,

aggressive marketing, adaptable or weak city/municipal government and growing demands for

better, and safer living environment (Webster, 2001: 153).

So, the issue of the city must be the most intriguing question in the world of economically

developed countries, but also, although from different perspective, in the world of economically

undeveloped countries. The issue occupies large amount of research aiming for better understanding

of the urban phenomena and for design of tools toward sustainable urban environment. Although,

much more attention should be additionally paid on urban issues, and from the side of all actors,

especially new economy characterized as the senseless to public good and long-term profits34.

In this work, the city is seen as complex system35 and of different scales, where all scales play

equally important role in creating new concept of sustainable city toward city designed for people.

PROCESSES: PLANNING AND SELF ORGANIZATION

Planning situation today, Hall (1992: 18) describes as the complexity of planning in

mixed economy, where private interests initiate significant amount of development, and where

public interest, in democratic ambiance, is composed of individuals and groups who have opposite

opinions about the development which could be defined as the appropriate one. The retreat of the

state from many policy areas (by formal privatization, deregulation, or simple neglect) has turned

many previously “public” issues into “private” ones, thereby removing them from democratic

negotiation (Houtzager, 2002: 5). The consequence of growing privatization context is that public

space, the space of highest level of accessibility, is weakening its position, while privatized space is

gaining. In this manner, accessibility to public space is more and more limited (Fisher & Karger,

1997: 18), and space and society are more and more fragmented.

33 Webster (2001) is stating that the growth of private residential communities globally is unstoppable. Blakely & Snyder (1997) estimates that 9 million people in USA live in about 20.000 private residential communities, surrounded by walls and with gates. 34 In European Commission Analysis Report (2003), the market forces are depicted as the forces which tend to neglect long-term profits, they operate in the way to drive urban sprawl and they encourage suburban growth and the land use which is inefficient and irrational. 35 According to Allen (2001, in: Batty & Torrens, 2001: 5), the simplest definition of complex system is the one who can respond in more than two ways to its surrounding. The "choice" in return, rises from the fact that non-linear processes within the system may potentially amplify microscopic heterogeneities hidden in the system.

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Urban-morphological approach argued here, treats a city as dynamic system, where buildings are

undividable from open space, and where physical structure is undividable from processes, and

where formation of physical structure is dependant on the dynamics of social and economical

forces. In this approach, physical structure appearance, its aesthetics and geometry, has important

influence on people.

Many questions about the cities are raised currently. Many answers on the cities we do not have.

What we can surely say is that new knowledge or the confirmation of the knowledge is raising more

new questions. Than we realize again the complexity of the issue, agreeing that everything is

affecting everything. Concentration of people, business and decision making makes the city

simultaneously the resource and obstacle for development, the place where globalization processes

are created, but at the same time it is the place that these processes affect on. But this state is

paralyzing our thoughts, and we necessarily need to simplify the system in order to visualize certain

structure and relationships between the elements.

Simplification of the system is suggested here through conceptualization of the space and processes

in the term of the main actors that can be identified as: (1) the forces of planning at one hand and

(2) the forces of self organization on the other. The main aim of the simplification here is to identify

the space-process element of the system which can have certain simplicity and the potential to

determine strongly urban environment. The actors indicated, have opposite opinion on their role in

the overall development36. The main difference between these actors lay in the nature of the

interests that these actors stand for. The actors of self organization represent the private profit, while

the actors of planning stand for public interest37. But planning is not about public interest solely.

Planning is to take in the account the public and private interest at the same time. So, planning

necessarily has to operate for what is seen as the collective interest, while actors of self organization

are still focused on the private interest solely.

Structure and form of public space are proposed here as constants, which have the power to give

character or quality to urban environment, which will then expectedly be appreciated by citizens as

desirable environment for living and work - inspiring space.

36 According to Fainstein (2000) planning situation today is characterised by strong tendency of the theory to place planning processes between urban development and economy, aiming for more democratic and just society. 37 We will not look for the definition of public interest, but we can have in our mind how Ikkonen (2005) is addressing the issue: “[…] due to its high level of abstraction and dependence on relevance in context, it is not possible to exhaustively define the concept of public interest. […] the use of public interest is mainly used as a legal argument in the limitation of the subjective rights of an individual”. But, the definition given here is strongly compromised when individual - private interest - is dominating the decision making practice within public institutions.

The intriguing question here is where the line between self organization and planning is and what its

nature is. Sassen (2006) defines the nature of the relationship between private and public interest as

the determination of the quality of future urban development of the cities. In the Fig. 3 it is given

the graphical representation of the pressure on the urban form generated from the self organization

actors' side. This pressure is manifested by the decrease of the quality of urban form, while public

urban form is losing the power and becoming the resource of private domain profit to grow. The

crucial findings are coming from the urban praxis of the city of Sarajevo.

Figure 3: The concept of contemporary urban form

Complexity of urban issue embedded in the fact that urban operates both on hierarchal and network

systems principles, requires well designed method in analyzing and synthesizing of our knowledge.

In addition to the complexity of the system itself, new layer of inner complexity emerging that is

different scales (from parcel to global cities form), and attributes (environmental, economical and

social) of the system operating interlinked. The complex method of dynamic scale is proposed here

as suitable method for intersecting and processing economic quantities, social qualities and spatial

scales into a set of decisions toward more balanced performance between human activities and

natural environment.

Growing urbanization, the change of traditional family life, increasing mobility of people, goods

and information, internationalization and appearance of metro business and residing (Martinotti,

1996: 4), and possibly related dissatisfactory evaluated state of the European city from the

inhabitants side (ECI, 2003), is continuously rising the question on the need for more balanced

performance between issues of conflicting human activities and natural environment.

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When we come to the issue of ethics, it could be stated that planning ethics require orientation

toward development of public space – open and indoor space, aiming for public space spatial

structure which contributes to and defines sustainable urban life. Based on this statement, planning

ethics is seen that should stand for more public interest. This is the scenario on how the issue of

intersections will be discussed.

Space: Urban form and public space

Environmental degradation, urban sprawl, social and spatial fragmentation, gated cities,

privatization of public space, internationalization, privatization of public positions and decision

making process, regulatory position of planning, self organization, dispersion, centralization,

decentralization and compaction, are evident and these are the issues which characterize

contemporary urban reality. It is evident that cities are going through serious change - population

and artificial structure of the cities are increasing38. Awareness of the fact that cities are main cause

of global change is also rising, as well as the awareness on the main urban actors and its

relationships.

Theory and praxis of urban form show that urban form is at the same time both reason and

consequence of former urban appearances and processes, meaning that urban form can be

functionally related with all of them. This makes urban form very complex, but also raises the

argument that planning of urban form may influence the behavior of all urban problems indicated.

Thus, smart planning can influence on self organizing actors and their decision making process on

the best location for their housing or business. Of course, we have to be very careful, knowing that

certain actions undertaken from planning side can produce effects in areas remote from the targeting

one or the effects which are hard to be identified in the short term, compromising our actions.

On the basis of extensive literature review, evident are repeating character of interest of the research

on urban form globally. Three aspects of the interests on urban form are defined: (1) first are

focused on the measurable structural elements of urban form, (2) second are focused on hard-to-

measure tasks given to urban form, and (3) not measurable, abstract forces which are modeling

urban form.

38 Urbanization process is evident, although, some cities (London. Hamburg, Vienna, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt) are shoving population decrease but the growth of the surface of the artificial structure of the cities, at the some time. 

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Urban morphology research39 is still significantly focused on buildings, physical appearance of

urban form (Kimaryo, 1999) or very urban form defines dominantly as spatial appearance (Moudon,

1997: 3) and look at the city as "stabile and fixed" (Crang, 2000: 303). But, there is also growing

number of authors like Castells, Sassen and Hall, who observe and link distant scales of urban form:

from parcel to global city formation. Evident divergences, but still coherent, in understanding,

conceptualization, and defining urban form are given in the next representative examples.

The first example look at question of urban form from the aspect of its elements, where main urban

elements are: (1) urban form and (2) urban interactions. Urban form is than defined as "spatial

configuration of fixed elements within metropolitan region" (Anderson et al., 1996: 9). In this case,

urban form incorporates spatial appearance of land use, namely, relative location of housing, work,

trade centers and recreational space. She is also interpreted in the sense of its density, and the

location of transportation and communication infrastructure. On the other hand, urban interactions

are related to flows of people, goods and information between different points of urban space.

Bourne, in addition to urban form and urban interactions (198240: in: Anderson et al., 1996: 9) is

suggesting a new urban element - urban spatial structure, the element which could be related to

principles which determine relationship between form and function. In scientific literature, terms

"urban structure" and "urban form" are often related to same problematic. This divergence could be

seen as functionalistic and formalistic concepts of understanding the city, but proofs for this thesis

are not direct.

Second example treats urban form significantly more comprehensive and in a way that urban form

is "not only combination of materials, volumes, colors and heights" (Castells, 2002: 24), nor it is

only mental representation of spatial form. In this context, Castells defines urban as: assignment of

structural tasks given to a spatial form, in accordance to conflictive social dynamics of history

(Castells, 2002: 24). Furthermore, Castells defines urban form as the symbolic spatial expression of

39 According to Moudon, A.V. (1997), inside the European schools of urban morphology, three following common orientation can be differentiated:  (1) studying the urban form of descriptive and explanatory nature, concentrated on the question how and why the cities are build, (2) studying the urban form of prescriptive nature, concentrated on the questions how city should be built, and (3) studying urban form with the goal to identify influence of former theories of design on the city, concentrated on differences or similarities between recommendations on what should be built and what was actually built. 40 Bourne, L.S. (1982) "Urban spatial structure: an introductory essay on concepts and criteria", In: L.S. Bourne (ed.) Internal Structure of the City, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

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the processes that materialize as a common result of urban meaning and urban functions41. This

definition is suggesting that urban form is inseparable from urban processes that are determining it.

Third example of conceptualization of urban form goes beyond the physical existence, and toward

abstract sphere of the theory of urban form. In accordance to this theory (Møystad, 1998: 423),

regularity of urban morphodynamics, namely its material manifestation through "differentiated and

structural surface level", comes out of the abstract "deep structure" of the form42. Although abstract

powers that define urban form are hard to measure, awareness of these powers has to be captured.

Finally, there are evidences which we can argue upon, that there is no common definition of urban

form. It is most possible that structural elements, tasks given and inner power of urban form, makes

together comprehensive concept of urban form. Urban science is continuously giving effort to

answer the question, and possibly the beauty of our modest knowledge is that there are new minds

coming, facing the same challenge – dynamics of urban form.

Here is one definition of urban form offered: "Urban form is the conflicting and dynamic line

(envelope) between open and build space, which is the resulting form of the conflicting relationship

between public and private interests". This definition corresponds fine to how Castells (2002: 25)

defines urban form: "… the symbolic expression of urban meanings and of the historical

superimposition of urban meanings (and their forms) always determined by a conflictive process

between historical actors". So, urban form is such a composition of structure and function, which is

built of unity of aesthetic-geometric physical appearance and complexity of the processes of

exchange of people, goods and knowledge, where both buildings and open space, equally important,

build physical appearance of urban form.

Descriptive and quantitative measuring of urban form, shows that the distribution of the forces that

drive urban development, and which defines the behavior of the attributes of sustainable

development, have produced the state of urban form today, characterized by processes and

appearances as it is given in Table 1. To common elements of processes and appearances of the

city, and which refer to economically developed cities, descriptive measure of the qualification of

its nature are assigned: positive (+), transitional (+/-) and negative (-). Qualifications of the nature

41 Castells defines urban meaning as "the structural performance assigned as a goal to cities in general by the conflictive historical actors in a given society", and urban functions as "the articulated system of organizational means aimed at performing he goals assigned to each city by its historically defined urban meaning". 42 See: Desmarais, Gaëtan (1995) "The Sacred Place", Nordic Journal of Architectural Research 4; and: Ritchot, Gilles (1991) "Études de géographie structurale", Université Laval, CRAD, Cahier spécial 15.

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of processes and appearances of urban form are assigned in accordance to whether they are

contributing to city effect or its overload.

Table 1: Nature of the appearances and processes of the contemporary urban form

Domain/attri

bute Processes and appearances of urban form Nature

+ +/- -

housing and business self organization

sprawl Space

new scales (e.g. emerging metropolis)

the loss of the city centre population

dispersion

centralization-decentralization

new-centralization

Demography

suburbanization and "urbanization" of suburbia (post-

suburbia)

relativization of the geography

network integration Technology

metro-business and residing (fifth migration)

the loss of the interest of the leading economical sectors

for the city

Economy

architecture/urbanism as a tool to attract economy

city planned/designed for cars Environment city planned/designed for citizens

governing – decision making

planning

privatization

Society

social segregation/fragmentation

Source: Cengic, 2007: 140

Having in mind that urban form is defined here as unity of both open and built space, and processes,

than processes and appearances of urban form given in the table impose direct relationship between

open space, and processes and appearances of urban form. Interrelation between open space and

urban form, have shown series of processes (Table 2.) which have been generated by the

development/redevelopment of public space.

Potentials of open space planning and its influence to the change of nature, namely transformation

of negative and transitional processes and appearances of contemporary urban form, influence

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directly the transformation of all selected elements of urban form. In this way, we can describe

public space as a tool to transformation of urban form, more precisely its spatial aesthetical-

geometrical and functional transformation, which than generate environmental, social and

economical transformations (Table 2.) and in different scales of observation.

Table 2: Impact of open space planning/design on generation of the processes and

urban form transformation

Evaluation criteria Urban form Complex

system space process

closed open

Attributes Generated processes Transformation impact

environmen

tal

integration of the green (defragmentation)

connectivity

pedestrian/cycle mode

social identity

residential and business gentrification

economical property/rent value centralization

spatial centralism - polycentricism

land use change

compaction-dispersion

Source: Cengic, 2007: 141

On the basis of comparative analysis of the results and its common elements, it can be argued that:

development/redevelopment planning of public space generates processes which can influence the

changes of the nature of negative and transitional processes and appearances of urban form. The

main physical elements of public space, the tool of transformation of urban form, are dominantly

open space but compose also the most significant urban premises: theatre, museum, library, school,

kindergarten, green market, health-care facility, correctional institution, and house of culture, art

gallery, and train/bus station.

The results are coherent with the theory of urban form suggesting a possibility of development of

new morphological period, and with resolute recommendation that urban form must be more

focused on urban processes and "lost" public space (Alexander, 2004: 68), and that new urban form

must be seen more as process than the state.

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Intersections: Paths and nodes

Urban intersection is defined in this paper as a space, physical and abstract, which for some reason

is space where at least two urban players are involved and can make certain profit, and sometimes

in conflictive manner. Space as intersection can bring a profit to one or more players if coming from

the same type e.g. people and people, but if they are of different type e.g. people and economy,

conflict is possible to occur. This definition of intersection can apply not only to urban space but

any space. For the main urban players we have selected following ones: people, economy, nature,

outdoor and indoor structure, planning, self organization and decision making process.

The issue of intersections can vary in scales and natures. It goes from 'global and place' scale

(Sassen, 2006: 81) to 'human and place' scale and its natures goes from social, economical, cultural

to spatial nature. Intersections are seen as melting but braking points as well. The very complexity

of scales and natures of intersections are opening the space to ask the question if there could be an

atomic size of physical appearance of intersections which can possibly bring light to its complexity

and possible simplification of the issue. Although aware of the danger of simplification, it is aimed

and driven for better understanding of the elements, processes and appearances of intersections.

It is shown earlier how spatial-physical aspects of urban form, i.e. open space, imply driving force

to social, economical and environmental actors of sustainable city. It is also shown how urban form

can be defined from the aspect of conflictive natures of private and public domain.

The line between private and public domain now becomes the element-process of the urban form, as

it reflects the claims coming from the public and private side. The line between private and public

domain we can visualize as gentle envelope which is covering all the physical structure of the city.

What we have learned is that designing/planning open – public space and facilities we can influence

the aesthetics and nature of the envelope that is, social, economical, and environmental processes,

where spatial processes are integral part. Here we can state that element-process can be

characterized as "nano-space", the space which can influence the nature of the urban environment.

The thesis of this paper is that there is functional bond between the issues of intersections and the

issue of urban form. The core of the bond is embedded in the location and nature of intersections, its

causes and consequences. The fact that there is functional bond between the issues of intersections

and the issue of urban form, gives the room to extend the thesis to the statement that planning of the

intersections means modeling of the very urban form – including the appearances of intersections

and processes that intersections generate. Here is actualized again the question on how we look at

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the urban form. Usually it is seen as materialization of built space, but the other way is to look at

urban form as "materialization" of inbuilt space, where communication is expressed inside very

open space – space of and as intersections. In this way, intersections become the main element of

urban form, where space and processes become one. Intersections are seen as structural part of

public property that has significant potential to define urbanity. The permanent value here is public

space envelope, and regardless to its quality and use.

The main attributes of intersections correspond fully to the attributes of open space and they are

identified as: (1) capacity to centralize activities and (2) capacity to produce movement economy43.

These attributes manifest in physical space, the focal interest of the paper.

For the two main constituting elements of intersections paths (lines) and nods (spots) are selected.

These two elements generate the power of centralization that characterizes intersections, and this

power is based on: (1) interrelation between urban envelope and quality of social interactions, and

(2) movement/flow of people, goods and information. The power of intersections to centralize space

will be depicted in two different scales of the same system.

The first scale is related to the fact that there exist interrelationship between urban envelope and

quality of social interactions, and in a way that quality of urban envelope e.g. public space

envelope, enriches social interactions (Figure 4.). This is the smallest scale of observation e.g., node

or the smallest physical area that one can socially identify with. The spatial elements define large

part in decision making process on the path and mode of mobility between two nodes someone will

choose to take. It has impact on the systematic as well as non-systematic mobility. Now when we

introduce paths as constituting element of intersections, i.e. connections as the space of movement,

identification with the physical environment may scale, and grow also to whole of the city.

43 Observations detected in the city of Sarajevo in the period of 1992-95 and identified as movement economy are comparable with those given in the work of Hillier (1996)

Figure 4: Relationship between physical space and social activities

The movement/flow of people, goods and information (Figure 5.) lead us to the second spatial and

qualitative scale of centralization. This scale can be described as emerging intraurban network. The

example given is extreme one since it refers to a city under the siege when possibility of making

choice is significantly reduced. Still, the case is beautifully showing how flow of people can

influence reposition of small activities of economy.

Figure 5: Intersections and generation of movement economy, repositioned under the pressure of

city siege.

In which way the planning and design of intersections can be proposed? We will look at the issue of

urban crisis described by Hall & Pfeiffer (2000: 32) as pressure of urbanization and lost of power of

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central urban space in growing process of decentralization44 in economically developed

cities/regions. From the aspect of urban form, three dominating answers are offered: new

centralization, compaction and urban renewal.

Here it is suggested the aesthetic-functional centralizing role of the space, seen as series of

intersections of different nature. Existence of continuity of intersection and the way the continuity

of its elements are planned can generate network of indoor and open public intersections which

represent new dimension of urban form. In this way intersections present continuous value and even

then when the very quality of space at the very moment is not satisfactory. Having in mind the

definition of urban form and the two main attributes of intersections that correspond to the

characteristics of open space, we can argue that intersections as space-processes generators play

decisive role for the future of urban form development and at different and complex scales.

Figure 6: Negative and positive space – Barcelona

The concept integrates what Alexander (2004) suggested as "positive space". According to, open

space that is "outer space" is positive when: "… passing through it one moves from space to space,

as if one were moving through a series of rooms (Figure 6). Each space, individually, is a strong

centre, each one has a boundary, one feels its heart, its substance; and one passes from one of these

strong centers, to the next, as one moves around and though the space". But the concept proposed is

covering larger range of interrelations and intersections to the terrestrial scales.

44 Decentralization here refers to processes of selforganization, opposite to planned decentralization.

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90

CASE: GENERALIZATION OF SARAJEVO URBAN PRAXIS

Theory and discourse given in this paper are strongly based on the experience and planning practice

of the city of Sarajevo, from the time of its siege through its reconstruction and development.

Strong influence is also coming from the visions and planning practice of the city of Barcelona, and

since 1992, the same year when Sarajevo felt under the siege.

Since the brake of the siege, the city suffered massive and forced demographic and cultural/ethnic

change, and it was under decisive international community involvement, and consequent

internationalization; the very internationalization can be linked than to brutal "ethnicalization" of

space and consequent fragmentation of the society coming from both inside and outside forces. In

addition, internationalization has generated processes of "de-nationalization" and "de-regulation"

that all have serious reflections to a city as place of intersections and as intersection itself.

What is the role of planning in the case of Sarajevo? Planning is the activity that expectedly

imposes order, although there are voices asking what city would be like if there is no planning, but

only self organization. But, when we look at the level of Master Plans, and General Urbanistic Plans

too, we will see dramatically often changes and corrections45 of these, and significant imbalance

between the plan and artificial structure realized inside46.

The changes are consequence of servile attitude of the city authorities47 toward private interest and

pressure of internationalization, while imbalance between the plan and realization is the

consequence of the greed and "innovative" claims of the private side. Urban practice is showing us

that the question of ethics counts for both sides.

Decisive role in post-war development of Sarajevo has new perceptions on space as property and

new claims on the city, ranging in many scales. The new perceptions and claims are coming, as said

earlier, as the consequence of transition from public property orientated society toward private

45 Urban legislation regulates Changes of Plans in the manner that all stages of originally adopted plans must be repeated, including public discussion and suggestions, where all citizens may participate in. But, if it is he case of Corrections of Plan, the participation of citizens is not required, so decision on corrections can be made form the side of small group of people. 46Artificial structures which are realized imbalanced with the plan are defined as illegal structures or structures of controversial background. 47 Discussions on urban praxis in Sarajevo are showing that lack of professional planning knowledge is on the scene too.

property orientated society, and transition from planned economy toward open economy

(PROPOCON, ongoing).

Figure 7: Typology of self organization processes

In the present Sarajevo urban praxis and since 1995, three spatial appearances as three types of

materialization of the claims can be observed (Figure 7.):

(1) The first one is described as big number of small interventions, which in nature manifest as

urban sprawl (Figure 8). The sprawling is taking form of continuous one, but linear type of sprawl

can be observed as well. These small interventions are in fact related to individual housing

appearing in suburban area, and with the history from late 60s (Taubman, 1972), but coming in

force significantly after 1995, with growing number of refugees who were looking for safe place

and place of opportunities. The numerous small interventions are in nature illegal housing that is

accommodating imprecise number of inhabitants but estimation is that almost ¼ of total population

is living in illegally constructed buildings.

Figure 8: Big number of small interventions, Buca Potok settlement, Sarajevo, 2008.

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The pressure of self organization and incapability of the authorities to respond to pressure is evident

here. The role of planning here is rather adaptive than proactive. After 1995, three cycles of

legalization of illegal housing were performed48, with the main aim to respond to human needs for

shelter and to raise funds for provision of main infrastructure, water resources protection and

stabilization of sliding land49.

(2) The second type is described as add-ons, and manifested as additional flour to existing built

structure (Figure 9). Add-ons can be detected all over the city, but the most extensive ones are

performed in the city area built in 60s and 70s. Targeted settlements built in this period (Grbavica I

and II), represents the most beautiful examples of International housing and urbanism, with the

qualities of living never reached again to date.

Figure 9: Add-ons, Grbavica settlement, Sarajevo, 2008.

The strategy of "addings" is explained firstly as a tool to reconstruct war-caused damages that lack

funds (e.g. roof, facade), and in the addition to a way to respond to growing demands for the new

housing capacities (e.g. war-caused social housing demands). But, the strategy is to be extended to

buildings that have not suffered war damages, rising question: who is really to profit?

(3) The third type spatial appearance is defined as small number of big interventions, and

materialized in central part of the city, historical and modern, but in the natural environment in

48 The third cycle of legalization process is ongoing. 49 Significant number of illegal housing is constructed on instable land on the slopes of the valley.

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sports and recreation areas as well. Privatization of public domain decision and pressure of

internationalization are playing main role here. It is not very clear if these interventions are to be

labeled as illegal or speculative, but there are evident examples of ones. The basis for this dilemma

is the practice of series of changes and corrections of Master Plans, and General Urbanistic Plan

mentioned earlier.

Figure 10: Small number of big interventions, Twist Tower, Sarajevo, 2008.

The exemplar of this type of investments is Riverina project where Malaysian Government has

played decisive role and with the support of local political players. Namely, the area of 170 ha,

originally designated as "the area of highest importance for sports, recreation and tourism" (PPS,

1986) is converted into a building area to accommodate 30.000 inhabitants. The question remains

on what claims local and international players built their decision making, and how public profit is

enriched here.

In conclusion, the issue of intersections as part of urban praxis of Sarajevo will be generalized as

the state of urban environment where materialization of private actions are dominantly irreversible,

while public space where private actions are taking place is continuously reversible or temporary.

Namely, as Abrams suggests (197150, in: Lee, 2003: 366), the most valuable natural resource that is

land, very often is not treated as resource but as commodity for baying, selling and speculations.

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50 Abrams, C. (1971) The Language of Cities. New York: Viking Press.

94

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THE ARCHITECTURE OF SYNCRETISM CULTURE AS CONTEXT IN HOUSING

Rajka Mandic

THE BASIS OF IDENTITY

City is never a neutral category, but rather a historical and dialectical aspect of social development.

The reality of a city lies in its historical and spatial dimensions alike. The subject of its history is

not a hypothetical continuum, but rather the differences that express social connections,51 thus

manifesting the way of life, while the way of life in it is in a correlation with its development and

changes. Spatial structures of a city cannot initiate and form the way of life per se, because forms

will never be able to supersede social connections that generate them.

What significantly forms culture52, i.e. the way of life as its part, is its historical context, i.e. the

philosophy that employs its systems of thinking, ideology and religion, thus influencing the way of

life, and consequently its attitudes towards space. As ideologies and attitudes towards religion have

changed through the different historical periods, so did the philosophy and culture. Consequently,

the attitudes towards space have also changed. The attitude towards space, which is manifested in a

social system, is not transferable to another system without an understanding of the philosophical

background against which it has grown, as well as without the broadest socio-political context in

which it has emerged. That is why, when considering a space, one needs to undertake preliminary

analysis to be able to explain the culture of the time in which the space occurred or will occur, i.e.

the philosophy that formed or still forms that culture. Culture in contemporary society is the basis of

identity and, through that identity it indicates what is specific within global development. With

culture, the meaning of diversity of civilizations in the world is being created.

The author Ivan Lovrenović wrote a book about the history of Bosnia covering the time-span from

the pre-modern period, when Bosnia belonged to the Ottoman Empire, where people had the same

linguistic and ethno-cultural habitus and „origin“, although they fell under spiritual influences and

institutional authorities of the three different religions/confessions, and consequently, the three great

political centers (Ottoman Empire, Austro Hungarian Empire, Serbia) that were geographically far

51  Society represents a system of structured social relations connecting people on the basis of their shared culture. (Gidens, Anthony. 2001. Sociologija Beograd: Ekonomski fakultet u Beogradu) 52 Culture implies values, rituals and the way of life characteristic for a group; it is one of the most important features of relationships and connections between people. (Gidens, A. 2001) 

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from Bosnia itself - until our days. „The fullness of life”, as Lovrenović puts it, “was based on two

different patterns, and it is exceptionally important to emphasize that it used to happen on daily

basis, throughout human lives, as something that we call the normal way of life. “ What are these

patterns? Simply put, there was a „segment” of life that was practiced at a sacral-religious level and,

the other that was practiced at a profane-existential level. Metaphorically speaking, it means,

according to Lovrenović, “we should be able to imagine a typical Bosnian (Muslim, Catholic,

Orthodox Christian, Jew, or any other) in those times as someone who had, in all the twenty four

hours of every day of his life, two cultural identities (to express it in modern terms). This typical

Bosnian had two lives: 'the life when he was only 'a Muslim, a Catholic Christian, an Orthodox

Christian, a Jew, which is the domain that could not be interfered by anyone and anything else,

because it would be the greatest blasphemy. There was also a life when one moved in the public

domain (i.e. in the environs of bazaar known as čaršija), in shops, while working in the field, in

coffee-shops, in the midst of some business deals, even in some socio-cultural rituals, that were not

of confessional but of popular traditional origin; this is when social-erotic force of the shared

'cultural identity' was most evident. Yet, this was all one and single life, his only life! “53

In the 19th century, particularly with the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the civic culture

and secularism started emerging in Bosnia. From that time onwards, the above-described pre-

modern scheme started loosing its stamina. Culture and cultural life were democratized, religious

and confessional identity ceased to be a dominant feature of individuals and communities and, in

that time-span of one hundred and thirty years, there were in Bosnia and Herzegovina the

foundations laid of the middle class and of civic culture in which, according to Lovrenović „the

elements of ethnic and traditional plurality did not function exclusively and in isolation, but

transgressionally, as instances of the mutual enrichment“. (Lovrenović, 2003)

Thus, we can say that for centuries Bosnia was a living example of multiculturality54, since for

hundreds of years it was deeply permeated by different cultures, whereby each culture accepted and

adopted something from others, yet in accordance with its own measure. Bosnians have

traditionally maintained the dialogue with the canons of both the Western and Eastern cultural

53 The fifteenth century is the time period of more clear distincions of confessional differences of the Christian religions: Orthodox Christianity and Catholisicm. In the mid fifteenth century, the Bosnian Church, which was also Christian, collapsed. After that, the differentiation of Christianity, along with the Islamic component (Bosnia falls under the reign of the Ottomans in 1528) will become one of the elements of the complex genesis of the three ethno‐cultural identities, and later nations of that specific Bosnian and Herzegovinian phenomenon. See more in Lovrenović, Ivan. “Multikulturalnost”, Zarez, 5 (116) (November 6, 2003),24. 54 Multiculturality today mainly relates to simultaneous existence of several cultures in a territory, i.e. a city, a region, a state (the pluralism of cultures) while multiculturalism denotes the principle of determining relations in a society where several cultures live in coexistence (cultural pluralism). 

99

circles, incorporating their influences into this dialogue. They drew their cultural identity from an

intense, at times undesired, interaction that gave a specific dynamics to the cultural and overall

development of Bosnia.

Therefore, the essence lies in the inherited Bosnian cultural being, and, according to Lovrenović, in

its civilizational mutual intertwinement, in the simultaneity of one shared culture, and three separate

traditions (associated with the differences that belong to the various religious customs). The

differences that emerged acted as nuances, while cultural homogeneity was present much more

throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, if we understand cultural identity as belonging to, and

functioning within a shared social framework.

“Let us not disturb the complexity of this combination – granted to us by our history so

that it became our fate as well as our wealth – and let us make it less complicated for the

liberated, enriching adoption; this is the only good baggage one can take along when

embarking on the journey through this labyrinth.“ (Lovrenović, 1989).

Unfortunately, with the first democratic elections in 1990, this civilizational and emancipatory

process that has been developed for centuries — in which elements of ethnically traditional

plurality did not function exclusively and in isolation, but jointly —has started falling into

oblivion. The religious and confessional identity again became the dominant feature of both

individuals and their communities.

Due to the rapid urbanization, even before the war, Sarajevo - just like many other world cities -

became a city in which one could notice the unequal spatial organization and the use of space, over-

population and high degree of building of some of its parts. The fundamental schemes and

principles of the industrial life — standardization, typization, synchronization, concentration,

maximization, centralization … were all the principles upon which the city was developed without

relying on its cultural heritage. Man’s needs are typified; his differences are denied, both in terms of

tradition and in terms of local circumstances and individual differences among people. Uniformity

was what was affirmed by the way of the ‘International Style’.

The problems with traffic, absence of greenery and free playground zones, as well as the inadequate

housing conditions have caused segregation, dichotomy of individual and withdrawal and

containment of families within the walls of their own home. Frustration and isolation grew, while

positive characteristics of sociability were being lost. Sarajevo, once known for its openness and

hospitality, became the city with very little genuine human communication, where alienation and

distorted relations and values started to occur.

Image 1. New parts of the city: Grbavica

In some aspects of life and work, Sarajevo did not develop as a single city, but rather as a

mechanical sum of several unevenly developed parts – municipalities, where different ways of life

partly developed.

Figure 1. Map of Sarajevo

These different ways of life have been the reflection of different cultures, i.e., of different adopted

ways things were being done. A culture that lasted in Sarajevo for 500 years has left a strong mark

on the culture of the use of space in the sphere of housing.

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Figure 2. Ottoman period (1448-1878) - map of “mahala”

The three basic principles of Islam as religion, expressed trough principles of

custom rights “URF”, dominantly affect development of housing unit

(Common law building): (1) The house - the yard - the garden. Three

fundamental urban elements, (2) The “mahala” – small residential area (40-

50 houses, small mosque with cemetery, “mekteb”- divinity school, bakery and

greengrocery, fountain), (3) Neighborliness The Kor’an urges: “Next to Allah

thou shall love thy Neighbor best” (Neighborliness is an ethic and social

factor influencing the formation of oriental architecture)

Image 2. “mahala”

The doksat is a typical plastic feature of the Bosnian house. Walking along

the streets between windowless walls and bolted doors, one rarely

encounters a living soul. Yet one is acutely conscious of the throbbing life,

staring eyes and whispered words behind the walls on the second floor.

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Houses with courtyards were the key feature of living in the residential quarters (known

as the mahala). This type of houses is present in every culture that is marked by the

strong presence of the spirit of Islam.

Figure 3. ,Svrzo’s house

Key: (1) gate, (2) men’s courtyard, (2a.)women’s courtyard, (3)privy (4)porch, (5)stairs, (6)low

round table, (7)fountain, (8)storehouse, (9)summer kitchen, (10)men’s room, (11)janitor, (12)gate,

(13)granary, (14) garden, (15)women’s room, (15a).women’s anteroom, (16)winter kitchen,

(17)stable

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Image 3. Svzo’s house

While the European house is a closed box the oriental develops into the

outer space and contains closed, semi closed, and open spaces.

Image 5. Svzo’s house- courtyard

The privacy dominates the concept of oriental house – inner courtyard

with water and greenery makes the interior and exterior part of the house

inseparable.

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Image 6. Courtyard of Despić’s (orthodox family) house

However, in Sarajevo, houses with courtyards were present in the culture of residence of the

other confessional-ethnic communities as well. Generally, the concept of the house with courtyard

has changed only slightly, so that the houses that are still in use are similar to the houses one finds

in Jericho, Mesopotamia, Greece, or Turkey.

Figure 4. Map of Ur

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Figure 5. Babylon- house with courtyard

Figure 6. Courtyards

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Figure 7. Greece, house with courtyard

Image 7. Turkey, house with courtyard

Religious prohibitions and the position of women in Islam, just like in Ancient Greece, influenced

the concept of organization of space that required a very high degree of privacy given that the house

belonged primarily to women - fundamentally linked to her.

Since Sarajevo was the periphery of the Ottoman Empire - and we know that, in the

periphery all the processes are slower than those that occur in the centre – the signs of the culture

were preserved longer in this city than in many Turkish cities. The old part of Sarajevo (its čaršija

and its mahalas), used to have, and still has, significance for tourism and culture.

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Image 8. The old part of Sarajevo - čaršija

In Islamic culture the čaršija manufactures and sells goods, and the “mahala” is

where one dwells.

The central zone (that falls under the Austro-Hungarian period of the city’s development)

is important culturally, politically, administratively, commercially, and in terms of

entertainment and tourism.

Figure 8. Map - part of Sarajevo:

Period of Austro-Hungarian occupation (1878-1918)

With the annexation of Bosnia by Austro-Hungary, there comes a remarkable

penetration of European influences in all spheres of life including architecture

which changes the oriental physiognomy of the town introducing new forms of

European architecture and city planning. The Austro-Hungarian administration

brings a different way of understanding the housing culture. The concentration of

housing asked for a maximal exploitation of the ground surface available and this,

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in its turn, asked for the construction of multistory buildings and rental houses

with a larger number of flats.

The new parts of the city (developed after World War II, as the consequence of the ‘International

Style’ philosophy of urban development) are primarily the „city’s dormitory” whose significance is

merely economic and only partly administrative and commercial.

Image 9. Part of Sarajevo: Period after World War II

Figure 9. Map - Part of Sarajevo developed after World War II

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Image 10. The new parts of rte city developed after World War II

In some parts of the old part of the city (i.e. in its mahalas) there used to live - and still live - the

families that had lived there for several generations. Divided into three confessional-ethnic

communities, they had lived for centuries mixed in the closest possible everyday contact. The

decades of coexistence, customs and cultural habits have succeeded to preserve in the mahalas the

traditional sense of unity with others, and thus preserve the desirable social links. Besides, in these

parts of the city, house still represents the mechanism of social control.55

Unlike these few parts of the city, where, to a certain extent, the links have been preserved and,

alongside them, the forms of social control, new parts of the city (the so-called “city dormitories”)

have developed neither social relations nor social control. Due to their weak sociability, the

anonymity of individuals in the residential sphere has increased and thus we see the rise of tensions,

depression and indifference to the participation in social relations.56 The reasons for this are

numerous and varied.

55 „Čaršija“, with its “gossip corners”, represents a specific type of social control. 56 One of the most comprehensice studies, which attempted to define the relationship between the social behavior and living conditions was done by Oscar Newman. See more in Newman, Oscar. 1972. Defensible Space,,Mac Millan, New York. Also Barry Schwarz, for instance, examines the relationship between the privacy and the structure of the living environments in Helmer,J. and Eddington,N.A.(ed.), Urbanman , The Psychology of Urban Survival, The Free Press, (New York 1973), 123‐141. 

109

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The more people live in a small area (new settlements – high-rise buildings —great density), the

more we see different characteristics and processes from those that have existed before. Thus, very

often, people who had grown up in the parts of the country that differ significantly in their values

system, culture, even historical experience, now live next to one another. Furthermore, people who

have different social status, who belong to the different social circles and who live in greater or

lesser luxury, live next to one another. All this leaves marks on their psychology and influences

their life orientation and cultural level. Such an economic, social and cultural heterogeneity results

in the need for the particular, rather than any interactions and contacts with individuals. Hence the

social isolation and loneliness, that are frequent in the sphere of housing, are the consequence of

heterogeneity of human beings, i.e., individualism and specific features of each one of them.57

Villages and small towns have always been synonymous with constraint, conditionality and

limitation of individuals in the repressive social environments, often prevailingly mono-ethnic. At

the same time, big cities are symbols of freedom and independent and autonomous activity in a

specific social milieu; they are always multi-ethnic. People who move from rural areas in search of

jobs are unable to adapt to the city. They show the symptoms of gradual psychological reaction and

desire to return to their state of non-freedom, through submission to the authorities that could

provide them with some imaginary stick to rely upon, guidelines and the sense of safety, while they

are not aware that they are manipulated all along. This is how, most probably, the possibilities

occurred for the pre-war political manipulation of these people who failed to become part of the

traditional logic of multicultural relations that had existed in Sarajevo for many decades. Intolerant

interpretation of the Holy Books that incite hatred and conflicts made it possible for these people to

be manipulated into feeling fear from those “others”— all serving the political goals of their

political manipulators. Each group helped in the manipulation of the members of other groups.

It has never been talked so much about multicultural relations as it is now the case. As Ivan

Lovrenović wrote, “In the times when Bosnia did not have an idea of itself as a 'multicultural

country' it actually used to be multicultural in its everyday life, in the non-conceptualized practice.

When this idea and this terminology were accepted by Bosnia as something that is an adequate

expression of its social structure and its 'nature', Bosnia stopped being a multicultural place. The

devil of nationalist politics took the country’s affairs into his hands and, now, multiculturality is

used as an alibi for the establishment and deepening of this monstrous condition, committed by

57 Rossi found that there are significant differences in the approaches to housing by the people belonging to different social and economic classes. (Rossi was quoted in Griffitt W. and Veich R. „Hot and Crowded Influences of Population Density and Temperature on Interpersonal Affective Behavior“ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17 (1971), 92‐97. 

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those local and international politicians who had done everything they could to destroy the original

historical raison d'être and the existential skill of co-existence of diversity in Bosnia and

Herzegovina.” (Lovrenović, 1989) The culture that resulted from the historical development as the

remnant of the shared historical destiny, which has produced social and cultural differences and

would like to preserve those differences, should be supported by the authorities.

AGAINST CULTURAL COLONIZATION

The return of culture as the means and purpose of identity in our contemporary world represents

resistance to the negative aspects of globalization. However, the issue remains open to what extent

it is possible to speak today — in an era of uneven geo-political powers within a globalization that

has permeated all civilizations, cultures and societies — about the preservation of cultural identity.

Francis Fukuyama talks about the end of history and Jean Baudrillard presents his view that this is

the end of society, while Daniel Bell refers to the end of ideologies, and Michel Foucault analyses

the end of individuals at the same time when numerous leftist authors pronounce that they can

foresee the end of nation-state faced with global, anonymous trans-national capital. The big trans-

national corporations strive to create a world market without barriers - linguistic, political, ethnic or

religious alike. These companies dictate the behavior of the national governments. The influence of

international capital is discussed by Slavoj Žižek in his essay „Multiculturalism or Cultural Logic of

Multinational Capitalism“. This world-known philosopher asserts with bitterness that international

capital does not have to use force and violence any more, since the world market is much more

efficient in subjugating individual cultures.

Culture is the last sphere where the concepts of national or multi-national belonging and identity are

sustainable, since, more and more often, we encounter the situation where political and cultural

identities are being separated from their territories. Undoubtedly, one of the paradoxes of the

process of globalization is that, thanks to the development of exchange and communications, it

promotes cultural diversity and cultural identity, while at the same time it threatens them. The

separation of culture from territory, specifically from its general context opens the door for cultural

homogenization, i.e. leads towards a monoculture that is an easy target to manipulation.

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Globalization speaks about multiculturality and interculturality58 and the preservation of cultural

differences, while the culture of dialogue that is the fundamental element of the intercultural

philosophy, represents an attempt to create an illusion of focus on differences and potential dialogue

on the equal footing. In a way, it is nothing but an alibi for cultural hegemony and for creation of a

new global identity. As such, it represents an unnecessary way of connecting the in-connectable.

Globalization is not just a substitute for imperialism, but belongs to the debate about

modernism and postmodernism. Some theoreticians claim that globalization is a continuation of

modernization and an extension of modernity, while others believe that it is something new and

different, i.e. associated with postmodern discourse or yet something completely new. This is why it

is possible to have different evaluations of modern, postmodern and globalization processes. For

some theoreticians, globalization seems to be a process of standardization in which the globalized

mass media and consumerist culture create the uniformity that would soon make every place look

like any other, with the same houses, the same restaurants and hotels, the same shopping malls, and

the same people wearing the same clothes while walking on the same streets crammed with

vehicles. Pointing at the boredom of universality and massification inherent to this modern project,

Frederic Jameson says that cities have been replaced by a „new hyper-space“, a „new world space

of multi-national capital“, a kind of global capital that is „deprived of spatial coordinates”.

Some advocates of postmodernism, offer the opposite view emphasizing the local idiosyncrasies,

diversity, differences and heterogeneity and claiming that „globalization produces hybrids and

diversity, and that global culture enables specific interiorizations and specific paths of development

throughout the world, based on the new forms of the hybrid syntheses of the global and the local,

i.e. multiplication of differences and heterogeneity.“ (Hall, 1991) The postmodernists also assert

that every local context includes its own interiorization and the processing of global products and

meanings, thus generating additional variety and diversity. Such a culture, they claim, represents a

modern social trend that has its own deep structural and cultural roots in the world of contemporary

societies where globalization and individualization walk hand in hand. The space of the individual

freedoms, determined in such terms, appears to be constantly expanding one the one hand, but on

the other hand, it is determined by the anonymous (bureaucratic) powers. In this new type of

individualism everyone thinks to be maximally free but the matter of fact is that they are not free at

all.

58 Interculturality is a postmodern phenomenon and implies the connections and relations among cultures. 

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One can ask whether is it at all possible to imagine and develop a global culture that would be

pluralistic enough to preserve what is valuable in the individual cultures?

An answer to this question is that globalization does not possess the sensibility for the preservation

of cultural identities. Under the guise of universality, globality and uncritical endorsement of every

idea that comes from the West, globalization is actually the way of creating new forms of

imperialist domination. The fact is that, with intercultural philosophy as the basis of

postmodernism, nothing essential has changed in the structure of geo-political power that is both

socio-economic and cultural. On the other hand, the resurrection of tradition, ethno-nationalism,

religious fundamentalism and other forms of resistance to globalization — those that were all born

out of conservative nationalism of autocratic and often violent stubbornness and backwardness, i.e.

mentality that refuses to learn and is incapable of learning anything from others — may generate

new and complex problems.

THE GLOBALIZATION OF ARCHITECTURE

People’s identity is always a mix of different phenomena, features, imaginations… It always

emerges in interaction, mutual permeation, and there is no greater danger for national identity than

the idea of „pure national culture“, although the processes of cultural identification are often

burdened with irrational conflicts. It is the confrontation with different mentalities and modes of

behavior that is the only possible way of avoiding the traps of parochial xenophobia and regression,

while identity needs to be understood as a process of constant shaping and reshaping, as a multi-

layered open process in a constant communication with other identities. The truth is that nations

with developed cultural identity are ready to accept foreign global influences and challenges; that is

the problem of Bosnia whose multinational cultural identity is shaky and insecure.

The tolerance that is being heralded these days is not sufficient for the realization of

multiculturality, nor is it sufficient for the creation of a sense of identity, in that context. It only

means the passive acceptance that differences exist, but this does not oblige anyone to define one’s

own relation towards those differences. Therefore, we first need to define our own mutual relations

in culture to be able to relate adequately towards the world in its globality. Why architects need to

do this?

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More than any other art, architecture is linked to specific space. It is its key reflex. Therefore,

architectural creation, although always linked to creative individuality of its author, must take into

the account the context, i.e. the specific people and specific space it is built for. The local

particularities of a place dictate architectural solutions; this is the way for space to preserve its own

recognizability. Local particularities are not static. They gradually change. Unfortunately, today

they are disappearing. With disappearance of the specific features of a particular space, cultural

identity gets lost. This is the reason why architects must be aware of the cultural identity and the

context for which they design their buildings.

Architecture is always related to specific context of a place, i.e. its culture, while globalized culture

is possible only in the form of exchange – both of commodities and of cultural goods. Since

exchange of space is impossible, there is no possibility for exchange in architecture. Today’s

exchange in architecture implies activity of an author who builds the same houses across the world

– be it America, Europe or Asia – without showing respect for the particular context. By doing so,

they only demonstrate, as Slovenian architect Aljoša Vodopivec puts it, a high degree of arrogance

that we see these days in our profession.

I do not believe in the globalization of architecture, i.e. its philosophy of interculturality. I think that

architecture needs somehow to demonstrate a resistance to globalization, particularly to the world

capitalist system and its values, since the globalization of cultures under the guise of interculturality

moves progressively to the commercial sphere, representing a „pacifist call” for a “dialogue of

differences”. As part of culture, architecture needs to be one of the buffers against the

commercialization of our world. The critical approaches or to be more precise - humanistic

approaches, need to include the awareness and sensitivity for cultural differences and social

inequality. A multidisciplinary approach is required as well as firm loyalty to those architectural

practices that respect identity and strive to preserve cultural differences.

CULTURE59 AS CONTEXT IN HOUSING

Historically and dialectically, we know that cities are part of the overall social development, and

that, according to Lefebvre, they are the „spatial projection of society“. Every method of production

produces a specific type of a city. With the beginnings of modern architecture, and with the new

59 Culture implies a way of life of a people, including its attitudes, values, beliefs, art, science, perceptions and the customary ways of thinking and acting. 

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methods of construction, according to the notion of Camillo Site, urban space, as an aesthetically

recognizable space, was sacrificed to make room to the chaotic, pseudo-democratic and pseudo-

humane ideology of urban image. Since the 20th century was characterized by industrial production,

the conceptual basis of development of industrial era was functionalism, which was a projection of

the method of production, distribution of labor, time created by that distribution of labor, and

rhythms characteristic for working days. In addition, functionalism is directly linked to the

economic system in which it fits perfectly. It is also embraced by the decision-making circles and

this is an additional reason why functionalism as the language of modern architecture has been in

existence for such a long time.

The industrial era, with its civilization, is a system whose parts operate in a more or less predictable

interaction. The fundamental schemes of industrial life in different countries are identical,

regardless of their cultural heritage, social structure and political differences. These fundamental

schemes have produced similar cities across the world. However, despite anomalies that have

already been detected, this is a civilization for whose preservation the “reactionaries” of our time,

both those on the “left” and those on the “right”, keep fighting, because it corresponds to the

essential, although hidden intentions of globalization. According to the predictions of social

development, the industrial system of today’s world crumbles under the pressure of a new wave of

historical changes. The mass society created by the Industrial Revolution, with its strong reliance on

mass production, mass communications and mass education, has begun to „de-massify“. The

diversity of values, communications, technologies, and forms of family life, confessions as well as

many other aspects of life began substituting Industrial Uniformity. (Tofler, 1980)60

Do these predictions suit the leading advocates of globalization (leaders of major corporations, their

allies in governments, powerful and centralized global bureaucracy)? Is it possible to manipulate

such society? Certainly not! Is it possible to apply a hidden law, a set of principles that permeate all

the activities of humanity in order to carry out global homogenization, i.e. colonization? We have

seen that culture is the best tool for it. Do we support cultural colonization by which the processes

of globalization with its aggressive yet subtle influences destroy the identity and homogenize the

cultures, or should we fight for the preservation of cultural identities of every place? In order to be

able to fight for one’s cultural identity, that identity must be unquestionable and developed in the

first place. For Bosnia, the identity is a multicultural one. Culture should not be colonized, yet it

should not be absolutely isolated. It changes gradually through its cultural context. However, there

are no absolutely applicable rules here.

60 See Toffler Alvin. 1980. The Third Wave. New York: Bantam Books 

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I believe that the preservation of cultural identity in a wider context of civic society is of a decisive

importance, actually too important to be left to the destructive influence of the processes of

globalization. The disappearance of tradition, its substitution with imported patterns of behavior –

imported mainly form America – leads to various forms of social, economic and cultural exclusion

followed by the unification and destruction of cultural identity. This unification is especially visible

in the sphere of housing as the most massive aspect of building.

The main feature of contemporary architecture should be contextualism61 (historical, physical,

social and cultural) that secures the sense of safety and belonging to one’s roots. This feature is

directly opposite to those of the modern architecture that promoted the break-up with the past and

with genius loci. Someone may ask why we should study the past, its organization of space and its

form of houses in our epoch of swift changes. What is it that needs to be followed and preserved

with the passage of time? Why context is so important?

In many cities, different cultures and subcultures are coexisting. That should have as its

consequence the existence of different forms of spatial organization. Since the organization of

space, as well as the form of houses, are direct expressions of the changeable systems of values,

images, perceptions and lifestyles, studying them enables us to detect the constant features that are

related to specific cultures and the times of their existence. They represent the values that form

human identity and that should be taken into account when the organization of space is concerned.

Socio-cultural factors and organization of space

One of the hypotheses of the architect Amos Rapoport is that the organization of space of a

community is the result of a number of socio-cultural factors understood in the broadest sense of the

term, that are modified according to the climactic conditions, types of construction and available

technology. Man inhabits an environment in which his house is only a part of it. Hence the house

cannot be viewed in isolation from its entire surrounding, but rather as a part of the total social and

spatial system, which has an impact both on it as well as on man’s way of life.

Houses in which people reside are not mere structures but institutions created for complex and

multiple purposes. Since the building of a house is a cultural phenomenon, its form and spatial

61  Contextualism represents the position in which an architectural work can be understood only in the context of its historical, cultural and natural circumstances.  

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organization are under the strong influence of the milieu to which it belongs. When an architect

decides to design a house, he needs first to take into consideration the specific socio-cultural

component of the way of life, which, according to Rapoport62, is a sum of culture, ethos, worldview

and national character. According to Rapoport, culture is equipped with ideas, institutions and

conventional activities of people. Ethos is an organized concept of what must be done. Worldview

is a characteristic way in which people perceive the world. National character represents the type of

personality that is seen in a society. Religion is what defines ethos, while family is the institution

that enables the transmission and preservation of ethos and thus forms national character, while

house, as family’s refuge and its framework also helps shaping of the world, the ethos and the like.

The concept of a house, i.e. its organization therefore depends on the culture of specific users. That

culture implies: an adopted way of doing things, needs and wants, ideals, but also that which is

socially unacceptable in that specific culture. When a culture has its identity and character and when

a certain worldview is built into the values of that culture, then there are obvious reasons for the

existence of different concepts of spatial organization. In defining those concepts, which rely on

tradition, we need to apply the method of analysis to detect what is essential, given that tradition is a

direct and unconscious translation of culture, its needs and values, into a physical form. This

process of detecting is a creative method that needs to include all the subtle particularities and

should also offer an answer to the question of how – in the condition of emergence of new

materials, construction techniques and technologies, and in the structure of new relations associated

with transition and globalization – one can express the function of man’s consciousness in the

context of his cultural determinants. To detect and express that function means to achieve the

possibility of creative use of elements of tradition, thus preserving cultural identity.

It is widely known that perceptions and behaviors are related to culture, and consequently, that in

some of their aspects they are changeable, while in others, they are constant. Some of the constant

forms of behavior are: the need for security and safety, religious ceremonies, the need for

communication, the need for the stimulation of senses and their satisfaction as well as the need for

visual and social complexity of one’s environment. All these needs are either constant or intuitive,

with a clear sense for what is right or desirable. However, the forms that meet these needs are

specific and varied. For the residential culture of Sarajevo, some of the more important constants

are: the need for privacy; the polyvalent nature of spatial organization; the need for neighborly

social interaction; and the respect for greenery.

62 Rapoport, Amos. 1969. House Form and Culture. Englewood Clifs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

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Social interaction

What brings about interaction and togetherness? Is it the space that is so stimulating or something

else? In my view, certain circumstances that affect human psychology and systems of values have

much more influence on relations (interactions and togetherness), and consequently on the way of

life, than the physical environment itself. We have the war experience when in all the

neighborhoods and types of residential structures, even in high-rise buildings that are the symbol of

alienation, an incredible social integration occurred. The conditions of survival in those buildings

were much more difficult than in others (high altitude, shortage or absence of water and electricity,

non-functioning elevators, etc.). But these difficult living conditions caused the increased solidarity

that helped their residents to survive. In the days of the war, human contacts represented the

exchange of energy among people that overcame individual solitude, strengthened the feeling of

community and togetherness, while, at the same time, acknowledging the identity of each individual

resident. It was a genuine human contact, where people were what they are – really and genuinely.

In other words, their behavior was in a direct relation with their nature, because every person was

relating to others in the way allowed by the very qualities of his being. The essence of these

contacts has always been on the levels accomplished within the totality of human beings. This

genuine human contact was the only thing that represented the source of the immense joy during the

war. In this contact lied the possibility of man’s liberation, the promise of de-alienation, the hope

for the integration of a human being. Unfortunately, this lasted only temporarily.

The experiences brought about by the war and the circumstances in which we lived only confirm

the old thesis that the social behavior is never determined by physical features of an environment

alone, but rather by the circumstances that are imminent to human nature, and to the culture in

which one is formed. The change of behavior is not achieved solely by the change of physical

environment, but rather, and much more, by the change of system of values and, even more so, by

the fundamental change of the structure of character of modern man. Therefore, a built space is not

just a technical problem, but the problem of man’s nature and conditions in which it is realized. The

main factor in human experience of life and world is the process of formation of categories of

lasting character that determines the value categories of a person as the general determinant of

behavior. The recent war and its circumstances have made it so that the value orientations of most

of the people were changed (only temporarily, unfortunately). The orientation to HAVING had

been replaced for a short while by the orientation to BEING. These are, according to Fromm63, two

fundamental ways of existence, two different kinds of orientation towards oneself and to the outside

world, two different structures of character, whereby the dominance of one over the other

63 Fromm, Erich. 1976. To Have or To Be? New York: Harper and Row.   

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determines one’s opinions, emotions and actions. In the way of existence that is based on “having”,

the attitude towards the world is that of possessing and having. Unlike having, “being” is associated

with the very nature of man where happiness is based on love and giving, and where true love

increases the capacity for loving others and for giving to others.

It is a sad commentary of our civilization that war and suffering, more than life in peace, could

mobilize human readiness to interact and to give, while peace mainly gives impetus to isolation,

selfishness and orientation towards “having”. In war, man can loose in a second everything he had

acquired and owned so that in such circumstances the “having” is of no value whatsoever. What is

of value is our unity with others, our giving and sharing, which – during the recent war – made both

the giver and the receiver richer. Everyone was happy and satisfied due to this new quality

generated in Sarajevo in those days – alas, only temporarily.

In contemporary societies, it is deemed that the mode of “having” is rooted in human nature and

that it is unchangeable. The truth is that the modes of “having” and “being” are both potentials of

human nature, and that social structure, its values and norms determine which of the two potentials,

that are inherent to every human being, would become dominant.

We have to decide which of these two potentials we want to cherish, while being aware of the fact

that our decision is to great extent determined by socio-economic structure of our society, the

structure that leads us towards one or the other option. Has this decision already been made without

our say? Today, nobody knows who is setting the rules, but the fact is that behind every decision

there is an economic interest. The only alternative to the total commercialization of our world is the

culture that creates a firm basis through cultural identity.

The transformation of attitudes towards life is related to the overall cultural development of man,

his spiritual characteristics and potentials. Human spirit, its content and condition, as well as

material and spiritual potentials of one epoch and society, significantly determine the organization

of space, the form of house, settlement, the character of cities and the way of life in them. The

absence of some qualities of the spirit inevitably leads to superficiality, uniformity, alienation,

pretentiousness, megalomania. This has an impact on human behavior. The change of behavior

cannot be achieved by changing physical environment, but by changing the system of values, or

rather, by changing radically the structure of the character of modern man.

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Tasks

Today, more than ever before, there is an obligation for urban planners and architects to search for

more humane boundaries in the preservation of genuine human nature and cultural identity, instead

of leaving it to the blind frenzy that abolishes all the existing boundaries in the name of some blind

freedom and universalism that lie in the foundations of postmodern domination that is rooted in the

innocent „ethnically neutral” economy and transnational capital. The most important boundary is

not the one contained in a man’s environment, but in the man himself. It is not physical, but ethical

and it requires respect. Man needs a firm basis to rely upon so that he can push that boundary to that

side where happiness lies. He needs a criterion that generates the specific mentality which enables

him to realize the unity of symbolic, cultural and social experiences and which equally defends him

from the utopia of humanism as well as from the technical utopia of global society and its cultural

inequalities.

The collaboration among students, who belong to similar cultural circles, needs to contribute to the

understanding of problems manifested in the domain of urban planning and architecture that are

acutely present these days. They need to join forces in order to determine: what is it in their cultures

that is specific and deserves to be preserved; what are the values that are timeless and that can be

incorporated in every new space. Each environment, aware of the dangers brought about by

globalization, needs to try to promote the idea of return to cultural identity and particularities

generated by the given environment (for example, from the re-activation of cultural heritage to the

new forms of cultural expression). What we need to focus on, in this time of great migrations and

immense diversity, is the need to accept that instead of the traditional views on culture, as a limited

whole whose members share some common „matrices“ (i.e. the recognizable maps of beliefs and

behaviors), there is a reality of culture which changes and gets richer gradually. This culture needs

to promote the creation of togetherness at local level and the affirmation of new local particularities,

and the development of structures capable of resisting the processes of globalization.

I think that, in our students, we need to develop an ethical orientation. We need to make them

interested for cultural diversity, but also for the cultural identity. They should be able to understand

their role, as the future architects, in a wider social context. We need to enable them to be aware of

their concern and responsibility towards society as well as their living environment. They need to

avoid the situation where their knowledge and skills will be used to the wrong aims. They need to

„think globally and act locally“, not the way it is done by modernists who “think locally and act

globally”.

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“Houses and cities should not be treated as commodities that will be consumed and become

outdated, but as a matter of housing which will be rehabilitated, improved and carried out.” (Koh,

1985)64

They need to act responsibly towards cultural heritage, because – as the Slovenian poet and

professor of cultural studies Aleš Debeljak once rightly put it: „it is of vital importance how we

treat national cultural heritage, since we have not inherited culture from our ancestors, but rather

borrowed it from our grandchildren”.

References

Debeljak, Aleš. 1998. Reluctant Modernity. New York: Rowman & Littlefield

Publishers.

Fromm, Erich. 1976. To Have or To Be? New York: Harper and Row.

Giddens, Anthony. 2001. Sociologija. Beograd: Ekonomski fakultet u Beogradu.

Jusuck, Koh. 1985. “Success Strategies for Architects through Cultural Changes

Leading into the Post-Industrial Age: An American Perspective” in

Environmental Change/Social Change. (published proceeding of the 16th

Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association),

Klein S., Wener R., and Sheila L. (eds). (pp.10-20) quoted in Elin, Nan.

(2004) Postmoderni urbanizam. Beograd: Orion Art.

Lovrenović, Ivan. (1989). Labyrinth and Remembrance: An Essay on the Cultural

History of Bosnia. Sarajevo:

Lovrenović, Ivan “Multikulturalnost”, Zarez, 5 (116), (November 6, 2003), 24.

Rapoport, Amos. 1969. House Form and Culture. Englewood Clifs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Rapoport, Amos. 2005. Culture, Architecture, and Design, Chicago: Locke Science

Publishing Compny, Inc.

Stiglitz, Joseph. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents, New York: W.W. Norton &

Company.

Toffler, Alvin. 1980. The Third Wave. New York: Bantam Books.

64 Jusuck, Koh. 1985. “Success Strategies for Architects through Cultural Changes Leading into the Post‐Industrial Age: An American Perspective” in Environmental Change/Social Change. (published proceeding of the 16th Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association), Klein S., Wener R., and Sheila L. (eds). (pp.10‐20) quoted in Elin, Nan. (2004) Postmoderni urbanizam. Beograd: Orion Art.  

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LIFE AND FORM INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF HOUSE IN A

TRANSFORMING SOCIETY

Lejla Kreševljaković

INTRODUCTION

Considering the Bosnian man as a modern being belonging to this cultural zone, this paper focuses

on his needs as to the utilization of living space. The aim is to seek solutions that may have an

influence upon the quality of using the living space and as such the influence upon human life in

general.

The issue of identity of nations, people and individuals, which is correlated to their lifestyles, has

become an issue of interest worldwide, largely thanks to the globalization phenomenon. In order to

be able to respond, at least partially, to the question as to "Who is the Contemporary Bosnian",

requiring the adequate living space, one has to reflect on the past as well as the present situation in

B&H.

B&H has always been known as a multicultural country. However, that model has been impaired

during the war and the post war period that resulted in territorial-administrative segregation of

“ethno-religious identities”.65 The Bosnian nation has been destroyed and split into nationalities

defined by religious distinctiveness.66 Bosnian citizens are often insecure about their identity,

except for the issues of ethnicity and religion. Bosnian society lacks the feeling of belonging to its

own country.67

65 Hadžidedić, Z. (2003): Interview, B&H Dani  66 ʺ... On the contrary, at the end of the 19th century, a very odd linguistic‐semantic and notional anomaly was set as a standard, whereby the term ʺnationʺ  was used as a name for religious‐ethnic communities that had been formed on Bosnian and Herzegovinian  territory during the past century, and not as a term for all citizens who constitute Bosnia and Herzegovina… B&H is not a unique country because there are several religious‐ethnic communities existing on its territory, but because those ethnic communities, under the influence of nationalism from the neighboring countries, which had set religious orientation as the base for “sovereignty” and  “nation”, proclaimed themselves as “sovereign” i.e as “nations” and then based on that set out to gain a certain level of statehood and independency for themselves. Basically, it would be enough to stop calling these religious‐ethnic communities as “nations”, so they themselves, as well as international entities and neighbouring countries would stop perceiving them as “sovereign” and “state‐building”…” Hadžidedić, Z. (2006): Interview, http://republikabih.net  67 Pajić, Z. (2005): Državnost na raskrižju puteva, www.tol.org 

In fact, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of three dominant groups. The first

group consists of those who are impregnated by radical ideas cannot forget nor forgive and who do

not accept the present situation. The second group is made up of those who care for the true values

of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its tradition, and the third group is those who negate the past, whilst

searching for a future that is based solely on the values that capitalism and the western civilization

are willing to offer. Currently it is this third group that is playing the leading role. So, as a

semiconscious human, due to the crisis being faced, the Bosnian also seeks the solution in his

weaknesses rather than confronting the real problems and challenges that lie within. We therefore

do not reach for “the past” which may serve as the main resource for constructing our own, Bosnian

and Herzegovinian, identity,68 but on the contrary, we tend to run away from it, thus making

ourselves even more vulnerable to globalization.

Figure 1. "Oslobođenje" daily newspaper building, built in 1981.-'82., burned in 1992., redesigned

in 2005. / There was a public opinion that "Oslobođenje" building should be preserved destroyed as

the monument of the sieged Sarajevo, but it was rebuilt according to the prevailing tendencies of

"forgetting the past"

“A nation, from one point of view, should be rooted in its past. It should build national spirit and

develop cultural and spiritual resistance to colonialism. But, in order to be able to participate in

modern civilization it needs to participate simultaneously in scientific, technical and political

rationality that very often requires complete abandonment of its entire cultural past… It is actually a

paradox: How does one become modern and yet reverts to ones own roots…”69

It should not be a paradox, if traditional values are built into the modern values, if they don't ignore

them, but take them into consideration. This paper is about those values, about defining important

68Hadžidedić, Z. (2003): Bosnia now = no future/no past, www.variant.org.uk  69 P. Ricoeur, (1965): „Univeral Civilization and National Cultures“ in history and Truth, pp. 271 – 284

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issues in housing due to the cultural identity, that are necessary for contemporary Bosnian, as a

member of the Global culture.

HISTORICAL REVIEW

The Ottoman period of rule in the region (1461 – 1878) brought some specifics of eastern lifestyle

and the Oriental house into this area. A clear classification of public and private domains, at all

levels from urban planning to the level of space organization within a single house, is the first major

characteristic of this period. The downtown area, traditionally known as "čaršija" was a place for

work, whereas the uptown quarters – residential areas – traditionally known as "mahala" (borough)

were intended solely for residential purposes. In residential areas the streets were considered as

public, whereas, houses and gardens were treated as intimate spaces. The house itself was divided in

two parts: the male – public part and the female – intimate part, which directly correlates to the

position of the woman in society that was generally "invisible" as well as the feminine lifestyle that

was mainly oriented to the family as the key value.

Figure 2. Public (men's) and private (woman's) part of the house were clearly separated

All this of course meant the privacy of space, which as a concept has remained ever since in the

human conscience.

The people of that period lived in harmony with nature. The house in addition to the enclosed

premises also encompassed large open spaces such as verandas, "diwans", male and female court-

yards and large gardens.

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Several generations lived together in the same house. People cultivated good interpersonal, familiar

and neighborly relations. The extended family at that time was composed of more members than it

is today. The family, rather than the individual, was the nucleus of society. People lived simple

lives. They ate, slept, and relaxed together in the same room. Separation of premises by functions as

it is known today did not exist at the time. Those premises were flexible. This was practically

possible as each room had its own lavatories and bathrooms and thus could be used for different

purposes.

Figure 3. Rooms were used for different purposes

The Austro - Hungarian occupation (1878 – 1918) brought a completely different housing culture,

failing to evaluate the lifestyle of Bosnians. This was the beginning of Sarajevo's Europeanization.

A major construction factor became the land rent, which determined the utilization of space, due to

which some building plots were exploited up to 95 %. Such philosophy definitely resulted in the

loss of human connection with nature. Dwelling and working quarters were no longer separated.

Downtown quarters were used both for living and work. The previously simple single story

structures gave way to multi-storey buildings that have public spaces on the ground floor. The

number of inhabitants in the city rapidly grew. In 1897, 21337 people lived in Sarajevo whereas by

the end of occupation, in 1918, this figure reached 58641.70

The city planning was still based on the existing (Ottoman) urban matrix. Multi-storey buildings in

such an environment resulted in a number of dark and narrow streets, which is considered as a

70 Finci, J. (1962): Razvoj dispozicije i funkcije u stambenoj kulturi Sarajeva, Zavod za stambenu izgradnju NR BiH, Sarajevo, pp. 28

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particularity of Sarajevo in that period, as opposed to other European cities that were characterized

by wide streets.

Figure 4. Multi-storey buildings were built in narrow streets from Ottoman period

The people, as the main and sole users of the newly designed spaces, were completely neglected.

Flats were only used for showing off the wealth and high standards that was the main criterion for

the interior decoration. The exterior on the other hand was used to represent the wealth and power

of the Monarchy, which is best betrayed on public buildings built in neo and pseudo classicist style.

Flats were dark, usually built in a corridor system without satisfying human need of sunlight for

daily dwelling, rest and leisure.

Figure 5. Typical façade and a floor plan of a residential building from Austro-Hungarian period

of rule

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The final days of the Austro-Hungarian rule brought about some changes in the definition of

architectural elements that sought roots in tradition, trying to define a specific Bosnian style. This

approach, however, was not very successful as it took into consideration only certain fragments in

the building form that lost sense when taken out of the context in which they were originally set,

and eventually added nothing to the meaning of space for the users.

Figure 6. Sarajevo / Architect J.Vancaš / Bosnian style / 1914.

The period between the two world wars (1918-1841 vise versa) brought some changes into the

housing architecture of the city. However, it did not last long enough to leave a mark in the overall

image of the city as it was mainly based on "completing" the existing Austro-Hungarian blocks.

Following the spirit of time, and by use of new reinforced concrete structures, flats became more

light and airy. The exterior of the building was basically a result of the interior organization

During that time, more attention was given to the greenery and plots were used up to 50%. Here and

there, small city parks were designed in areas where Austro-Hungarian authorities did not succeed

in carrying out their plan of constructing housing blocks. The organization of flats had undergone a

change from the corridor to the hall system, regarding the arrangement of housing, whereby the

hall became the central living-room that connected the public and intimate sections. Open areas of

the flat, such as balconies and porches, gained on the quality from the perspective of utilization as

they were directly connected to the hall.

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Figure 7.Typical façade and a floor plan of a residential from the period between the two world

wars

The Yugoslavian period (1946-1992) was a period of Communist rule that corresponded to a

complete severing of all connections to tradition, by setting a new set of values, such that an

international style, following all postulates of modern architecture, became fully accepted. A

functionalistic approach to town-planning led Sarajevo into the third phase of development along

the narrow valley, creating "Novo (New) Sarajevo" which became one large “dormitory”. Treating

the flat as a “dwelling machine” definitely destroyed some of the major values that the population

of the city had been building for years, good neighborly relations, the concept of the family as the

nucleus of society, the versatile use of house domains and the direct connection between housing

and nature. The fact that the population tripled from 11609 to 361735 in the period between 1948

and 1991 and the fact that half of all housing units in Bosnia and Herzegovina were concentrated in

Sarajevo, basically says a lot about the type of the buildings and the population density. 71

71 Demografija Sarajeva, www.sarajevo.ba

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Figure 8. New part of the city built after the Second World War

The post-war war period (1995-2008) is a time when Bosnians face great difficulties in the process

of restoration of their material and spiritual world. It is not an issue of returning to the pre-war

status, but rather an issue of accepting a new set of values that comes by with a completely new

system; Capitalism. The average Bosnian, after all, has only got enough strength for mere survival.

There are a large number of illegally built structures. Even those built legally are rather a result of

the corruption of local authorities, than the implementation of a precise development plan or policy.

Figure 9. Illegally built private houses on the hills after 1995. / Alifakovac, Sarajevo

It is therefore of key importance to finally define the needs of the city and its citizens from the

perspective of planning and construction, as well as to find solutions to satisfying people’s needs by

using a contemporary scientific approach.

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ELEMENTS OF TRADITION IN MODERN HOUSING

The period of Ottoman rule over Bosnia that lasted for about 400 years was long enough to ensure

the acceptance of the way of life, irrespective of religious preference, and to set its roots into the

society. It can be noted that the important characteristics of dwelling during this period are the

elements of tradition which should be accepted nowadays as eternal values in the housing culture of

Sarajevo. Today’s collective dwelling which is nowadays imposed as an economic necessity, which

is in fact the subject of this work, was unknown at that time. Still, elements of individual residence

of eternal values need to be defined, modernized and as such transposed into multi-storey buildings

of today.

One of the basic elements of these values is privacy. In the past, privacy was achieved by separating

the court-yard from the street by a wall. In today’s, multi-storey residential buildings, where the

entrance to a flat is located on the stair landing, privacy is completely neglected and anyone passing

by, has direct access to the interior of the flat when the entrance door is opened. The feeling of

privacy could easily be enhanced if each flat had a pre-entrance element; its own entrance that

would not be shared with the neighborhood.

The next important element is the contact with nature. If this pre-entrance, "glass veranda", could at

least be partially filled with greenery, then it would represent an open space similar to a small yard

that could be used the year around. That would, at least partially, satisfy the need of staying in

contact with nature. This element requires special attention. Functionalism has reduced open spaces

in housing to such extent that it makes them almost completely useless. Because of that, people

rather decide to enclose these spaces and join them into other premises of the flat. Therefore, it is

important to increase the size of open spaces and make them easily accessible from other rooms

within the flat that are most frequently used.

Figure 10. Residential building / Bili Brig, Split, Croatia / Architect Nikola Bašić / 1981. - 1989.

Another important element is the versatility of rooms that was characteristic of the traditional

Bosnian house. This concept of versatility suits today's way of life, as opposed to the functionalistic

approach that made a clear distinction between the various spaces within the flat, thus splitting them

into "night and day" premises. If the rooms are made larger and if they can be used for several

different purposes, then the overall utilization of space is enhanced, this brings about also very

important economic prospects. One of solutions to increase the versatility is to make each room to

have adjacent toilet and bath facilities as it was the case 600 years ago.

MODERN DEMANDS IN DWELLING

Changes that constantly take place in the way of life of people define new needs related to the use

of living space. In order to gain positive impact on the quality of dwelling, the architectural space,

by its definition, needs to create opportunities for fulfilling these needs.

However, the nature of changes is not always compatible with the essence of the human being. It is

therefore essential that the human being is considered as the starting point of any design and not

only the changes that are taking place around us. To avoid, as Luis Baragan said, that “man

becomes human waste”72 architects should give their best to nourish the true values and not to

neglect them and in case these values are threatened, then it is the duty of the architects to stimulate

their renewal.

72 Frampton, K. (1992): Modern architecture, A critical theory, LTD, London pp. 319  

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Therefore this work discusses the demands of modern times, from the perspective of design that

should be considered in two different ways; by accepting them, as they are not opposed to the

human nature and; by eliminating the superficially created ones in order to promote essential human

needs.

Family

The extended family which was known in the Ottoman period was reduced to the immediate family

circle during the previous communist system of rule, whereas today in the capitalistic era, it is

reduced to mere fragments. The family, today, exists more “on the distance” than physically. There

is a tendency for faster independence of the youth, who due to education, employment and similar

factors, start to live on their own at a very young age. The number of single parents is on a constant

increase. Homosexual couples form families. A lot of individuals do not want to start their own

family. Although the global tendency leads to destruction of the family, that process should not be

quickened by architecture. The first sense of belonging to the family develops within the space

where the family spends most of its time. Therefore, that space by itself can have a stimulating role

to form the feeling of unity and security. The question is HOW?

A centrally positioned room, where all members of the family meet, on purpose or by chance, and

where they spend most of their time, definitely provides opportunities for contacts.

The contact within the family is definitely materialized during joint meals. Today, more than ever,

people eat outside their homes. Architects could, by following this fact, completely exclude joint

dining premises from their designs, being completely unaware of the fact that this would represent

the estrangement of man from his own home and his family.

It is therefore necessary to continue designing the dining space, to give it even greater significance,

thus encouraging people to use it even more and to make it seen from other domains. When

speaking about duplex-flats, for example, it is specifically the dining space that should be made

visible from the upper floor. It should have double floor height so that it can be visible from the

stairway and other upper-floor premises (which may have windows oriented to the inside of the

flat).

Figure 11

The kitchen also needs to be a part of the common space. Traditionally, that space was separated

from the rest of the house, used exclusively by women and secluded, due to the role of the woman

within the society. The role of the woman has significantly changed today and food is prepared

equally by all family members. Due to the efforts of providing better contacts and relations within

the family, it is advisable to have the kitchen as an integral part of the living room so as to enable

those preparing the food to take active participation in family life and not just to act as “servants” in

the house.

Neighborhood

Good neighborly relations that have always existed in Sarajevo are also fading. The western logic of

creating neighborhoods is being adopted. The neighborhood, as a place with which people identify

themselves and which is considered to be “a mediator between people and the city”73, is now

defined by material power, occupation, status and lifestyle. The western society is indeed a class

society and relations are based on mutual interests.

When discussing the issue of neighborhood, then Sarajevo should rely on eastern traditions. During

the Ottoman period, the "mahala" (borough), counting at approximately 200 inhabitants, was the

centre of human community in which people were helping out each other. In Sarajevo, as well as in

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73 Rapoport, A. (1971): Human Aspects of Urban Form, PERGAMON PRESS, pp. 252

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other traditional Muslim cities “within the neighborhood people knew each other and felt safe”.74

Good neighbors were far more appreciated than the house itself.75

The previous communist system, with its multi-storey blocks, where people had the opportunity of

meeting each other only in the stairwells, fairly destroyed the possibility for developing social

contacts.

Research shows that low income population has a greater tendency of helping out each other and

enjoys greater social integration than their high income counterparts. In order to encourage social

integration it is necessary to stimulate people to help each other, which in today's environment is

possible through creating and identifying common interests. The collective approach to family

duties seems to fit into this concept. This, in the first place, means that the population structure

needs to be mixed, from the perspective of income, thus creating jobs for the low income categories

through different kinds of services such as ironing, cooking, baby-sitting, etc. Those highly

educated could help others by giving foreign language or math lessons. Children parties can be

organized jointly. It is important that those, who offer certain services and those who benefit from

them, are neighbors and that they have mutual interests.

It is up to the architects to design more common spaces that can be used for these purposes and that

such spaces are well dimensioned and positioned within the building. It is desirable for the citizens

of Sarajevo to renew good neighborly relations. It is not just part of the tradition but also a

prerequisite for a better and safer future of this town.

There are certain requirements that are part of the modern lifestyle and general civilization progress

that cannot be denied. They must be noticed and given the opportunity for realization.

Flexible space

The flat, which was formerly treated as a “dwelling machine”, in Sarajevo, is nowadays accepted as

a commodity for trading and as capital at full disposal to its owners. Partly owing to the above and

partly due to the fact that a single flat cannot satisfy all the needs through time, people experience it

rather as a temporary place for dwelling and not as a permanent solution. In order to overcome this,

it is necessary to create spaces flexible enough so as to enable certain changes that would better suit

74 Ibid, Quote 9, pp 165 75 There is a well known urban legend, which says that a man in Sarajevo sold a house for the price that is three times higher than usual. The price for the house was 100 ducats and the other two houndred ducats were for the neihghbors, those on each side of the house itself.

the needs of its users. This needs to be done in such a way that it is independent of whether the

space will be inhabited by the same people at different times, or if it is to be changing owners and

inhabitants. Basically, the idea is to try and create possibilities for redefining and reorganizing the

space. This can be realized by selecting a suitable construction system and the position of vertical

installation blocks, so as to allow proper positioning of the kitchen and the sanitary facilities at any

time and in any situation.

Figure 12. Completely different organization of the same flats according to the different user's

demands

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Living – working space

The major characteristic of today’s lifestyle is mobility that leads to homogenization of human

activities and the inseparability of work and leisure. The characteristics of industrial society,

working hours from 8 am to 4 pm, free time from 4 pm, "sacred" weekends as once known in the

western civilization, now belong to the past. Work has become dominant and everything else comes

with it. Since the telephone and the computer became mobile, work has been following us,

everywhere and at all times. Using the modern internet technologies, internet access has become the

most important issue, whereas the access point or the work place has become, more or less,

irrelevant. This allows people to have a greater choice of workplaces. For some people, working

and living spaces have become one. While some prefer to have the workplace within the living

quarters, or vice versa, others want to have the two, completely physically separated, yet in the near

vicinity of each other. Therefore, the architecture of multi-storey buildings needs to provide

adequate answers to changes in the lifestyle of people related to work and dwelling at the same

time.

Conclusion

Functionalism in housing architecture is loosing its significance and the support among its very

users, the dwellers. This work represents an attempt to define new guidelines in design of urban

housing.

The housing unit changes its basic purpose constantly, into a space used on a 24 hour basis; a space

used both for work and leisure; a space suiting the needs of a modern dynamic family. A mass

housing can no longer be a mere collection of dwelling units, flats, but rather a living organism

where people circulate so as to exchange emotions, ideas and interests. That is why this paper

emphasizes the needs of the modern human being. These needs need to be considered as a starting

point for future designs, while specific solutions in the design of housing units and multi-storey

buildings are left to the designers who are encountered with such challenges.

It can be concluded that the commonly known typology of housing fades. In case adequate solutions

and answers are provided, as to the temporary and permanent needs in housing, multi-storey

buildings of the future shall become places that largely fulfill the expectations of the modern

Bosnian society than have the housing units of commonly known typology done ever before.

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REVITALIZATION OF THE OLD CITY OF POČITELJ

Vjekoslava Sanković-Simčić

INTRODUCTION

Small city centers can be classified and grouped together according to their common

characteristics. Some of the elements that determine their classification are their size, economic

function they perform and a cultural context they are in.

At one point in time those historic cities were important cultural and economic centers. The wave

of industrialization and urban growth of the 19th c. did not affect many of them; therefore they

were stagnating and had gradually become rural settlements, gaining a specific position in

contemporary society.

Historic cores in small towns, unlike the ones in large cities are, in most cases, well preserved and

surrounded by walls. They are the most dominant parts of the settlements and still remain the

centers of social and business life. Some of them enclose residential neighborhoods as well.

Usually the main attribute of old historic centers is a unique harmony between manmade

elements and the surrounding landscape.

Small historic centers are exposed to several specific hazards:

- Insufficient economical activity causes migration of the population towards bigger

settlements; therefore it is the main reason of abandonment and deterioration of an old nucleus.

- Due to insufficient maintenance and neglect of a historic nucleus, its inhabitants tend to

migrate towards more modern neighborhoods at city outskirts. At the same time, lower class

population, with no economic means to sustain historic center’s maintenance, is moving in.

- Increased economic activity could cause destruction of old and creation of new building

structures that might endanger an old city core and jeopardize its harmony with the surrounding

landscape.

- Introduction of necessary economic activity and construction of new venues, in order to

sustain that activity, could lead to inappropriate adaptation of old and unsuitable building of new

building structures.

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- Expansion of old and the construction of new roads, building of new schools, hospitals,

etc. could upset the unity and homogeneity of old towns.

- In developed counties a rapid population growth and large migration towards urban

settlements imposes a threat to old building structures and surrounding landscapes.

The pressures of an overwhelming population expansion and industrialization or degradation and

emigration impose a big threat to our urban and rural environments. In order to preserve their

positive qualities we must ensure their proper and sufficient protection and preservation. Regional

politics need to create economical platforms that will provide and guarantee the conservation of

small historical centers and ensure that their building structures will not be neglected. Different

specialists (historians, archeologists, ethnologists, conservationists, engineers, urban planners,

sociologists, economists, attorneys) need to coordinate their efforts in order to guarantee a proper

conservation. Appropriate planning and careful research will enable a suitable conservation,

emphasize values of old heritage and ensure its continuous existence among new developing

structures.

In order to protect our cultural legacy for new generations we must:

-Comply with ratios, parameters and characters of existing old cities

-Turn attention to dominant building edifices, historic elements, existing city structures,

extraordinary building locations and panoramic views

-Carefully and appropriately utilize empty building spaces

Furthermore, analysis, evaluation, and revitalization of small historical towns must be based on a

scientific approach and principles. Those methods will provide adequate results and justify

extensive financial support necessary to achieve complex tasks of preservation. Besides all

technical, legal and financial concerns, approved revitalization procedures must show

consideration for the customs and aspirations of natives inhabiting a historic nucleus in question.

Počitelj is a small historic town located south of Mostar, on the left bank of the Neretva River. It

is a spatially and topographically defined urban environment. It was mentioned for the first time

in written documents dating back to the mid 15th century AD. Depending on its masters,

Počitelj’s significance has been changed several times in history. However, its role remained

mainly strategic: the location of this fortification on a dominant cliff granted visibility over the

Neretva River towards the south and the north.

As many other historical towns, this unique urban settlement has been constantly deteriorating.

Insufficient economic activity caused the migration of Počitelj’s inhabitants towards bigger urban

centers. Due to the constant neglect of the upper part of the old historic nucleus, deterioration of

buildings and the lack of infrastructure, the remaining inhabitants gravitated towards the Neretva

valley, outside the city’s historic borders. With no urban planning, there they started constructing

new private residencies.

The above-described activities in Počitelj forced its revitalization to become an acute problem,

requiring a highly complex scientific approach, which employs both the methodology of urban

planning and protection of cultural heritage.

Image 1. Počitelj in the mid 20th century

THE CONSTRUCTION OF POČITELJ AND ITS AESTETIC VALUES

There are three important historical periods in the development of Počitelj:

1. The period of Matija Korvin during which the strategic importance of the area was

established

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2. The period when the settlement was founded under the influence of Oriental thinking and

customs

3. The period when Počitelj regained its strategic importance (after the conquest of Gabela

and advance of the Venetians)

Image 2 The mosque and the upper part of Počitelj in view - artist K. Liebscher

Počitelj lost its strategic significance after the Austrian Empire took over and it rapidly started

to deteriorate. The walls encompassing the lower town’s gateway were demolished. Later on,

parts of the wall and a small gateway next to the hamam were also devastated. The spread of

the city walls is, therefore, interrupted; creating as a result a direct open pathway to two nearby

meadows: Gornje and Donje polje. It is a fortunate coincidence that this unique settlement has

been preserved in its original state. The proximity of the river, terrain configuration and fortress

make it similar to the cities of Dubrovnik and Ston in terms of its layout.

In terms of its internal arrangement, Počitelj bares characteristics of an Oriental settlement. The

community is divided into zones. Čaršija- the business part- is created on the crossing of three

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land roads and one navigable route. One connected Počitelj with the cities north of it: Blagaj,

Mostar and Sarajevo. The second one linked it with southern Dalmatia. The third one was

coming from the cities of Nevesinje and Stolac and was stretching through the entire settlement

from the upper to the lower gateways. There are several public buildings (like the han, hamam,

medresa) located in the business area of Počitelj. The old mosque is positioned at its outskirts.

Through one of the gateways the mosque is connected to Čaršija and the medresa and through

the other to the residential zone.

The residential area is positioned on sloped topography, and resembles an amphitheatre in its

structure. Several small streets (sokaci), spreading through the settlement and connecting every

house, expand from the main road that descends sharply from the upper gateway. Looming

over the settlement there is the Middle Age fortress. Its dimension stands proportional to the

other city structures and it has a big urban significance. The only parts still preserved today are

the lower part of the main tower, a small rectangular tower on the left side of the gateway into

the fortress and a part of the wall on the west side. It is obvious that the old builders adapted

their way of building to the Počitelj’s terrain and ambient. The structures situated on the very

steep slope do not reduce each other’s view. Despite the apparent scarcity of space, the feeling

of wide space remains present.

The 16th century, the age of Turkish domination, is the most important historic period for

Počitelj as a whole. In the residential architecture of Počitelj the Oriental influences were

united with indigenous ones thus creating structures of an exceptional aesthetic value. A unique

use of volume, peculiar interplay between lights and shades, various building materials and

colors give Počitelj’s residential buildings a distinctive feel. The houses are very modest in

their size and detail in comparison to houses in Mostar or Stolac. They were made of stone,

with traditional stone slate roofing. The division of houses to a summer and winter part is not

very apparent. Livestock used to occupy the lower parts of the houses: this custom was very

common. Indigenous architectural influences are not represented as much in public buildings.

Image 3. View of the fortress and the clock-tower (sahat kulu) from the road connecting

Počitelj with the Dalmatian Coast

Image 4. Drawing of the fortress-the oldest part of Počitelj

REANIMATION OF POČITELJ

Socioeconomic factors were the main cause for the population of Počitelj to abandon their city

over a long time period. Their number was gradually but unquestionably declining. This small

town, with rich and significant history, was excluded from the main roads that were built

between 1878 and 1914, and later between 1918 and 1841. Without any “active” population

left, Počitelj, after the Second World War, resembled a dead city. The remaining inhabitants,

mostly the elderly and women resided in this almost abandoned town. They supported

themselves through agriculture and raising livestock in the meadow of Donje polje, situated in

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the fertile valley of Neretva, below the city itself. It seemed that only rare enthusiasts and

admirers of old monuments made brief visits to the old deteriorating Počitelj.

Suddenly, in the 1960s, the construction of a modern highway along the Neretva Valley from

the town of Buna to Metković provided Počitelj with a chance for its revival. However, this

sudden prospect, merely opened a possibility for Počitelj’s future, but did not provide a

permanent solution for its problems. The owners of abandoned houses in Počitelj had already

long established their lives, mostly in other towns and villages of Herzegovina. One part of this

displaced population had even been settled in remote municipalities of Bosnia; others had lived

outside of Yugoslavia. The former inhabitants or their descendants now preformed various jobs

and pursued different careers far away from their former town. Their return was out of the

question, even though they still owned property in Počitelj: mostly residential houses now

deteriorated and abandoned. Construction of the new highway along the Neretva gave Počitelj

a chance of becoming a tourist center of the Herzegovina region. As a result of the new

circumstances, the old and uninhabited buildings suddenly gained a market value. The cost of

real estate was even expected to increase with time. The former owners started to sell the old

abandoned buildings, thus bringing a change to the Počitelj’s social structure. The neglected

and deteriorated houses were purchased by peasants from the surrounding villages hoping to

achieve prosperity in the near future. However, they had no means to actively participate in

improving the economic conditions in their new city. They lacked financial backing and had no

urban habits. In socialist societies, like Yugoslavia, the only driving force capable of

performing a significant economic change could have been the one that possessed financial

means. The first to perform that change in Počitelj was the catering enterprise, which financed

the adaptation of the medresa, a 16th century school building, into a café- restaurant.

Later on, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic Bosnia and Herzegovina financed the

adaptation of the biggest residential building, the former residence of Počitelj’s captains, into

the Art Colony.

The two buildings became the focal points that influenced the resurgence of Počitelj. Tourists

going from Sarajevo to the Croatian city of Dubrovnik would have stopped in Počitelj for

sightseeing and photographing: they would have visited the old mosque, the Art Colony

buildings and the medieval fortress. They would have had coffee or lunch in the café-

restaurant and then continued their trip.

Image 5. The photograph of Počitelj taken from the right bank of River Neretva in 1971.

In addition, some tourist agencies from Dubrovnik organized big excursions to Počitelj and

Mostar. Those trips were important for Počitelj not only financially but also in promoting its

increasing tourist potential.

In the next couple of years, Počitelj became known as a unique cultural and historic center of

the Herzegovina region. This initial success provided it with further financial backing and

investment in its weak infrastructure: roads, water supply, sewage and electric fittings. In the

1960s approximately half of the city inside the old walls was supplied with new installations.

This was a prerequisite for Počitelj’s further revival. Due to the needs of the growing catering

industry, the devastated building of the old han had been restored and converted into a

restaurant, which, unlike the café that worked only during summer seasons, was open

throughout the year.

The most powerful catering company in Počitelj later financed the reconstruction of the old

hamam, which dates back to the 16th and 17th century, as well as several residential buildings

that were turned into hotels.

This new economic boom caused the cost of real estate in Počitelj to increase. Businessmen

started investing more of their assets into the catering industry: small restaurants and cafés

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were opened in the vicinity of the old city nucleus. Those new, in most cases unsuitable

building constructions, soon became a real threat to the city’s cultural and historic heritage.

Combined efforts of officials from the Čapljina district (that includes the territory of Počitelj)

and the catering company from Sarajevo (that owned most of Počitelj’s catering venues: hotels,

restaurants, nightclubs, etc. inside the city walls), prevented destructive building actions of the

private restaurant owners and further disruption of the visual homogeneity of the old nucleus.

In a short period of time the circumstances surrounding Počitelj have drastically improved.

Aspirations in financial investments have increased to a degree that it became necessary to

prevent and stop building activities that threatened to damage the cultural heritage of Počitelj.

Its most important attribute was the unique harmony between the architectural -manmade

elements and nature. This quality desperately needed to be preserved. If not, the tourists’

interest in Počitelj would have also decreased. Its cultural and historic uniqueness was the main

reason why the public was so attracted to this old city.

At the present moment, further revival of Počitelj depends solely on its inhabitants and their

ability to prosper from different fields in the tourist economy. However, it is still uncertain if

they will be able to find permanent employment. The city itself should not become a city-hotel:

it would lose a charm of a living urban organism and detach itself from its rich history. It is

necessary to connect the inhabitants of Počitelj with all economic activities crucial for the

development of its tourist economy that are taking place in their city.

As a result they would continue living inside the old city walls, trying to attract as many

tourists as possible providing them a comfortable stay. Although Počitelj will always remain

Herzegovina’s midpoint of transit tourism only, high-quality tourist accommodation facilities

and services could help extend the stay of visitors in this town. All other necessary city

services, like schools, hospitals, police, etc. should be located outside the old city walls in order

to preserve the authentic historic atmosphere. This would help emphasize Počitelj’s

architecture and its unique location on the steep cliff over one of the most beautiful rivers in

Yugoslavia.

Image 6. Looking at the mosque, the clock-tower (sahat-kulu), the Art Colony and Donje polje

(the Lower field)

Problems of Conservation and Restoration

The new socioeconomic conditions affected Počitelj to become an important tourist point in the

Herzegovina region. Consequently, the problems of restoration and conservation are closely

connected with Počitelj’s adaptation to those circumstances. All conservational and restoration

efforts and interventions need to be subjected to the main objective: preserving the ambiance of

the old historic city and maintaining the authentic exterior appearance of every architectural

structure. This also needs to be kept in mind while reconstructing the remains of devastated and

demolished buildings.

At the present moment, regardless of significant restoration efforts, the ruins and the devastated

buildings dominate over the preserved architectural structures, thus further emphasizing the

historic ambiance. The old ruins are exploited as a tourist attraction. However, the aspiration of

preserving this status quo is in collision with the desire to revive the old city through the return

of its inhabitants. There are two main problems we encounter:

- The issue of the return of the active population to Počitelj

- The problem of the restoration and conservation of the authentic building structures and the

old nucleus in general

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It is necessary to achieve a compromise for both of these problems. First, in the process of

reconstruction it is not advisable to completely restore the city. On the other hand, in order to

revive the tourist economy and employ the residents of Počitelj, the issue of tourist

accommodation facilities in the old nucleus needs to be resolved. The delicate task of experts is

to find a balance between the two.

A separate problem is the tendency to erect some new building structures in the old nucleus.

Every project of this kind needs to be closely supervised in order to avoid possible damage to

the authentic ambiance of the old city and its aesthetic values.

Image 7 View from tabija (Turkish bastion) on the upper, mostly residential, part of Počitelj.

Today most of the buildings are in a state of deterioration.

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Different types of architectural structures in Počitelj

All buildings in Počitelj can be classified into the following groups:

- Residential buildings

- Sacred monuments

- Fortification

- Public architecture monuments

Figure 1. Residential houses in the upper part of Počitelj

The conservational treatment of buildings in these groups cannot be identical. Disparities in

their treatment depend on the differences in their cultural and historical values, their present

condition and authentic historical function, as well as several other factors important for the

evaluation of the historic building structures.

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Image 8 This well preserved two-story house on the second floor has several residential rooms

and wide divanhana (covered, open space) overlooking the enclosed avlija (courtyard)

Residential Buildings

Image 9 The wooden architecture of divanhana (lođa) with hajat on the ground floor

During my on site analysis of the residential architecture in Počitelj, I have noticed some of its

unique characteristics. Generally speaking, residential architecture adopted influences of both

Mediterranean and oriental stylistic elements. In addition, some of the features seen are strictly

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unique to Počitelj. Two-gabled roofs, emphasized and exposed masonry structure, widely

spaced small windows, and particular room layout in small one-story buildings all have the

Mediterranean characteristics. Four-gabled roofs, doksats, rows of closely spaced windows,

wooden structure of divanhana (lođa), room layout with hajat (an open-air covered part of a

house) in the ground floor, open divanhana (lođa) on the upper floors and intimate connection

between fenced yards and living spaces are all representative of the Oriental style. An interplay

between both stylistic details can be noticed on every house in Počitelj giving them a very

particular appearance. The traditional stone slate roofing and stone chimneys in customary oval

forms are the most distinguished attributes of this type of architecture.

Image 10 Traditional stone slate roofing

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Image 11. Kaldrma in the residential house yard in the vicinity of the clock tower (sahat –kula)

All residential houses in Počitelj can be classified into four groups:

1. A small house built on sloped terrain containing one or two rooms on the ground floor and

a small cellar formed out of the sloping terrain beneath. This type of dwelling has a rural rather

than an urban character.

2. A house with a more developed room layout: there are several rooms and divanhana

(lođa) located on the ground floor. Livestock and storage areas are located in the cellar. This

type of house has a courtyard fenced with a stone wall (avlija).

3. A two-story house has several residential rooms on the upper floor. Each room is

furnished with musandera (a built-in closet/bathroom). Also, there is a wide divanhana

overlooking the fenced courtyard. On the lower level there are hajat, an open-air covered area,

and two to three residential rooms.

4. The most developed residential complex consists of two separate houses: haremluk, a

master’s residence and salemluk, a house for servants. There are two courtyards in this type of

complex: an intimate space for female members of the family and a public space for visitors

and males of the household. This type of residence has a very elaborate room arrangement with

numerous premises on every floor. Hajat, on the ground floor and divanhana on the upper level

are usually connected with a female yard paved with geometric ornaments made of small

pebbles and lavishly decorated with plants.

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Image 12 Typical avlija entrance with iron ornaments, door hinges and handle

Image 13 View on a hajat

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Figure 2. Počitelj’s mosque and Art Colony building

All four types of houses have outdoor toilet facilities located in the courtyard. Small bath

“hamamdžik” is placed in the musandera (a wooden built-in closet). Some wealthier

households would have had this type of bathroom in every room.

Most of the residential houses in Počitelj are dated from the 18th and the 19th century although a

small number belong to an earlier period. We can safely assume that even older residential

architecture was very similar in style. The building structures from the 18th and the 19th century

are the most numerous thus giving a very peculiar appearance to the old city nucleus. The

monumental sacral and public buildings are considered to be the only accents on Počitelj’s

topography.

During the process of restoration of damaged or partially deteriorated buildings, it is imperative

to preserve the original exterior appearance while insisting on the use of authentic materials

and forms. However, it is acceptable and advisable to modify interior spaces according to

contemporary living habits. It has become necessary for bathrooms and toilets to be located in

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houses and to provide all necessary installations (a water system, sewage, electrical fittings).

Residential rooms need to be altered to fit contemporary furniture. In addition, some residential

houses could be converted into tourist accommodation facilities and hotel rooms. In case of

increased tourist activity in Počitelj, a modern hotel should be built in Gornje polje on the

Neretva riverbank. Some of the residential building structures, currently in ruins, should only

be conserved in their present condition. Careful analysis should help experts decide if a

devastated building should be restored or preserved as a ruin. Several factors should be taken

into consideration: its current state (if a building is completely demolished or it could be

repaired), its original value, its placement in regard to the old nucleus and other important

architectural forms and finally its visual aesthetic influence on the overall city appearance.

Conserved ruins need to bare witness that Počitelj was once an abandoned town.

Figure 3 Počitelj mosque’s portico

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Figure 4. Drawing of the Počitelj Mosque’s windows

Sacred Monuments

There is only one monument of this kind preserved in Počitelj: the domed mosque from the 16th

century. Looking at proportions of the formal building elements, delicacy of their appearance,

many of the mosque’s fine ornaments carved in stone and the precision of their execution, it is

quite apparent that this is one of the most beautiful mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The

space around it is enclosed with stone fence holding two gateways: the lower, located on top of

the stone stairway opens into the yard and the upper, located on the main road. The mosque’s

interior is in poor condition. It is necessary to conduct a research on its walls to determine if

there are any traces of painted decorations, customary to this type of sacral edifice. A research

of the exterior should help in the conservation of all its elements authentic to the time when the

mosque was constructed. All other creative interventions in space (illumination, for instance,

etc) should be secondary to the authentic stylistic elements. Artistically, the mosque is the most

valuable building structure in Počitelj. Coming from this premise, conservational activities on

both its exterior and interior, as well as on other elements (the yard, fountain, fence, gateways

and surrounding plants) should be preformed with close precision.

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Figure 5 View of the mosque and the fortification

Figure 6 The gateway into Počitelj’s fortification

Fortification

With several interruptions the Počitelj fortification was built in stages between the 15th and 18th

centuries. It is possible to follow its development starting from the most unapproachable

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location, where the fortress with the Gavran Kapetan’s donjon and small obor (small space

enclosed by large walls in a vicinity of the castle) had been built first. Later in time, the

defensive system has developed, eventually including a larger area near the fortress and

encompassing the entire slope following the ridge of the hill with staged stronghold posts, large

walls, towers and gateways. This last fortification phase was marked by the fortified

amphitheater shaped surrounding (suburbium) below the fortress where, during the Ottoman

rule, the settlement (kasaba) developed. Its 17th century appearance (when Evlija Čelebija

visited it) has been preserved to the present day.

The main points of the fortification system have been also preserved: the Gavran Kapetan’s

fortress/donjon with the remains of walls around it (this was the residence for the Captain and

his soldiers), the arched gateway leading into this central part of the fortification, both upper

and lower gateways with towers, the remains of stronghold posts along the encompassing wall,

tabijas (round bastions built by the Turks for their cannons) and the remnants of walls, with

loop-holes and breastworks, encircling both the fortress and the settlement. Having all this

evidence, it was possible to conduct an authentic restoration of the defense walls. There were

two wooden platforms (one above the other, built for walking and for defense) attached to the

lower parts. Breastworks built for protection were placed on the wall’s crown. It seems that

defenders of the city were organized into three widely spaced rows. The entire defense system

needs to be conserved with no emphasis on any of the three building phases. The fortress and

the gateways need only minor restoration work. It is not necessary to replace their missing

building elements, but only to constructively reinforce the existing structure in order to save it

from deterioration.

The fortress (Gavran-Kapetan’s donjon) is the most preserved and valuable part of the entire

fortification system and it is advisable to assign an appropriate contemporary cultural function

to this extraordinary historic monument. A museum of Turkish and Medieval weapons of

Herzegovina could be an adequate solution. The most valuable artifacts could be placed in the

fortress itself, while open spaces outside would house medieval cannons, different Turkish

weapons and artillery and battering rams.

In the vicinity of the fortification, archeological excavations need to be conducted.

All unearthed structures should be presented “in situ”. Počitelj’s inhabitants and tourists could

use those locations for educational and recreational purposes. Their design should be devised

once all necessary archeological excavations are preformed. Replanting of all indigenous plants

at those archeological sites would also have to be carefully planned. Walnut, as one of them, is

mentioned in Evlija Čelebija’s annals, as the most common tree in Počitelj. He also mentioned

pomegranates and figs amongst numerous other decorative plants and flowers indigenous to

this area.

Image 14. The fortress-the oldest part of Počitelj

Image 15. View of the upper gateway presently in a very poor condition

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Image 16 Looking at the domed medresa and the clock tower (sahat-kula)

Public architecture and monuments

There are several monuments in this category: the medresa (the high school building from the

period of Turkish rule), hamam (the public bath from the same period), han (accommodation

facilities for travelers and their caravans) and sahat-kula (the clock tower).

All four monuments were built between the 16th and the 17th centuries and are a part of the

Islamic architecture (Ottoman tradition). The medresa has an important artistic value. The very

first conservation works in Počitelj were preformed on the medresa due to its extraordinary

beauty. The experts have conducted them very professionally so the building did not lose any

of its authenticity. However, the new function given to the medresa is very questionable. It may

seem at first that new café-restaurant, located in it, is a good choice for the development of

tourism in Počitelj. However, this newly created connection between a catering venue and a

historically important building (former school), is very problematic. In the process of this new

adaptation, a large part of the building has been sacrificed to a kitchen facility, causing this

object to lose its original integrity. At the moment, it is impossible to predict the new function

for this valuable historical monument, although, in the near future, this kind of evaluation will

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be necessary. Transformation into a library and a small reading lounge would be a possible

appropriate solution. Počitelj’s inhabitants, artists in residence, and tourists would all benefit

from this alteration.

Figure 7. Drawing of the lower part of Počitelj

The hamam, a Turkish public bath, is a typical architectural structure of this kind. It is

identified by several small domed areas that represent the visual accents both on the exterior

and the interior of the building. Several years ago, the conservation and the restoration of the

missing building elements were completed. Due to the non-professional restoration process, the

interior space has lost some of its authenticity. Therefore, the building needs a new and

adequate restoration that would eliminate mistakes that have occurred. At the moment, there is

no financial support for this project, although this might become possible in the near future.

Also, it would be necessary to address the current use of this space. As in the case of the

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medresa, the hamam’s present function should be altered into a cultural facility. Similar to

Roman baths, Turkish hamams were places of social gatherings. For this reason, it would be

appropriate to utilize the hamam in Počitelj as an exhibition art gallery. In that case, all the

valuable features of its interior space would be emphasized. Without jeopardizing its

authenticity and visual integrity it is also possible to utilize the hamam for a different purpose.

Figure 8. Drawing of the lower part of Počitelj with a view of the medresa, one of the

gateways and the Neretva River

Image 17 The architectural detail located in the upper part of Počitelj

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The han was reconstructed from a ruinous condition several years ago. The limited building

structure prevented an authentic restoration. The project itself was based on the insufficient

historical documentation. Besides this, all the authentic stylistic elements on the building were

subjected to the architect’s creative intervention, consequently causing the monument to loose

its historical and artistic value. There are no future plans that would restore the han’s

authenticity. It is regarded to be a newly constructed building with some preserved historical

elements. It is also considered to be well fitted into the old historical ambient.

The Sahat-kula (the clock tower) has completely preserved its stylistic and historical

characteristics. It is necessary to perform only minor conservation work to reinforce the

building. The clock, planned to be mounted on the tower, would bring back its functional value.

It is a public obligation to preserve the two of Počitelj’s most important vertical accents, the

clock tower and the minaret, for future generations.

RESTORATION AND ADAPTATION PROPOSALS

In order to show revitalization possibilities in Počitelj, I have chosen two adaptation proposals

(pilot projects) involving two groups of deteriorating residential buildings. The first one is to be

restored and adapted for modern living. The well-preserved remains allow an authentic

restoration. The guiding principle is a complete preservation of the original exterior

appearance. Only in the interior minor alterations, like sewage system and water supply

installations, would be preformed.

In the second case, several separate dilapidated building remains would be combined to create a

new public structure-the Youth Center- designed as a center for an international youth

organization. The limited existing fabric and structure prevent an authentic restoration at this

time, yet, due to their exquisite positioning on several interconnected terraces, their restoration

and adaptation into a new differently used edifice would be an adequate solution. A low

building construction is suitable for this ambient; its function would revive this part of Počitelj

that has been without any social activities and venues. The final result of this adaptation would

be similar to adaptation of the old han. Although, above described method cannot be

scientifically justified, living conditions in Počitelj demand these types of solutions. The

conservators advocate the alterations to be as minimal as possible. In both pilot projects, the

authentic parts of the structures should be differentiated from the ones newly reconstructed or

designed.

Image 18. Počitelj before the communication line Sarajevo –Dubrovnik was built

Image 19 A, B Present condition of the buildings (63, 41) chosen for the two pilot projects

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Image 20. The lower city gateway

Communication lines in Počitelj

The old system of communication lines in Počitelj has been entirely preserved. Due to the

sloped terrain, the communication lines were built in the form of steps, used only by

pedestrians and horses but no horse teams. Horse or ox teams were kept outside the city walls

in Gornje and Donje polje. Planned conservation and minor repairs would preserve the old

system of communication lines and keep it operational. It would still be possible to reach the

lowest terrace, the former location of old čaršija, by car. Referring to the map of Počitelj from

1783, now kept in Kriegsarchiv, Vienna, we can assume that the old čaršija (the square) was

used as an open space for livestock, grains and product exchange. It is not clear from the image

whether there were any small shops encompassing the square. It is possible that small craft

shops existed only inside the residential houses. Scientifically, it is not possible to accept

propositions based on cadastre information for restoring small private shops. However, in order

to satisfy public need for the revival of this part of Počitelj, some small shops would be built

adjacent to the old wall. Autochthonous materials would be used; yet, the design of space

would be based on demands of modern living. This would enable resuscitation and functional

use of the old part of čaršija. Adequate planning and a scientific approach would prevent

further damage to Počitelj’s integrity.

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Green areas and open spaces

Replanting of open public spaces in old Počitelj, as a separate project, would have to include

areas of the fortification, communication lines and locations with conserved historical ruins.

The decoration of private green areas should be left to their owners. However, providing them

with professional assistance would ensure that all green areas in Počitelj are replanted with

species indigenous to this region. This would also contribute to the conservation of both natural

and architectural environments.

The Sarajevo- Dubrovnik Communication Line

Počitelj, as a historical town, was first established above the river. With the development of the

fortification, Počitelj started to spread towards the banks of Neretva and has become oriented

towards it. The construction of the highway in the 1960s alongside the river interrupted

Počitelj’s natural connection with water and disturbed its authentic character. Conservationists

were proposing that the highway crossed the river outside Počitelj, continued along the other

side and returned to the left bank just outside Čapljina. This would require the construction of

two additional bridges. The investors did not accept their recommendations since this project

would demand a significant increase in cost.

The future highway towards Dubrovnik would stretch above the old city and therefore would

not disrupt Počitelj‘s integrity. However, the problem of the old communication line remains

unresolved. As proposed before, the only adequate solution would have to address Počitelj’s

intimate contact with the river and provide travelers with a panoramic view from the highway

located on the other (right) riverbank. However, it is unrealistic to expect that necessary

financial backing for this proposal will be obtained. The chances for its execution are minimal.

In the future, only one solution could be implemented: it would require the construction of an

arched viaduct, starting just outside Počitelj, stretching towards the right bank and being

maximally distanced from the lower part of the fortification. That would allow the creation of a

green area below the fortification walls, which would reach the river. In addition, this solution

would still provide travelers with a panoramic view from the viaduct.

Analysis of the Present Condition

Image 21. Austrian map of Počitelj dated 1783-Kriegsarchiv, Wien

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Image 22a-c. Sample survey sheets: the fortress, the mosque and one residential building. The

information obtained helped conduct a complex analysis

In order to conduct a scientific analysis of Počitelj’s present condition, the survey of all

buildings inside the wall was performed. Several structures outside the walls were also

included. Existing technical documentation proved to be very scarce and insufficient, which

made surveying a difficult task to perform. The attached sample sheets provide us with the

information obtained; size of buildings, type and current use, ownership, building materials,

period of construction, living and building conditions, alterations and adaptations, architectural

and stylistic attributes, degree of protection, proposed function and restoration.

The conducted field study and collected material provided information for several different

analyses:

- Cronology Of Buildings

- Land Use

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- Height Of Buildings

- Building Materials

- Roofing

- Instalations (Water Supply System, Sewage,

Electrical Fittings)

- Degree Of Protection

- Building Locations And Panoramic Views

- Historical And Stylistic Attributes

Today, in 1971, Počitelj has 148 inhabitants, much less then ever before. I have surveyed 80

relatively well-preserved building structures (residential, sacral, fortifications, public) and 23

dilapidated residential buildings. Following a detailed analysis, revitalization projects have

been designed.

Intervention Requirements

(Buildings that need to be demolished; conservation of monuments, parts of monuments and

preserved ruins; exterior restoration and reinforcement of demolished and deteriorated

buildings; buildings that do not require any intervention on their exteriors or need a small

degree of intervention; return of authentic appearance to poorly adapted buildings;

archeological excavations-their presentation; conservation of preserved buildings, adaptation of

new buildings to the environment and ambient of Počitelj).

FUTURE OF LAND USE AND BUILDINGS IN POČITELJ

(Housing; hotel and private accommodation facilities; shops, craft and trade buildings; sacral

objects; educational and cultural buildings; green areas and open spaces, historical

fortifications, public buildings, archeological excavation in situ, art colonies, infrastructure,

buildings that need to be removed).

Referring to the research conducted, there are 57 residential buildings in Počitelj, 12

dilapidated residential buildings in need of restoration, 4 deteriorated residential buildings that

need to be adapted for public service, a complex of small shops in čaršija and 8 dilapidated

buildings that need conservation. The preservation of authentic historical exteriors should be

the guiding principle. The strict use of autochthonous construction materials, stone and stone

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slates, as well as other stylistic attributes is necessary. Building interiors should be adapted so

to meet the demands of contemporary living.

If an authentic restoration of the preserved remains cannot be performed, yet, they posses an

extraordinary location value, it is justified to adapt them for new purposes (# 41 and 31). It is

necessary to integrate the edifices into their surroundings and by doing so, revitalize the part of

Počitelj currently without any activities. The final result of this adaptation would be very

similar to the result achieved with the adaptation of the old han. As stated before, although, this

method cannot be scientifically justified, living conditions in Počitelj demand these types of

solutions. Experts advocate them to be kept at the lowest possible level.

In order to preserve the integrity of old Počitelj and its surroundings, it is necessary to respect

specific building principles. This especially concerns the buffer zone that is partially in visual

disharmony with the old nucleus.

In the area of Gornje polje, there are many illegally erected residential structures. Their exterior

appearance, as well as their positioning in the area, does not adhere to modern building

standards. In order to minimize this problem, it is necessary to create more green areas and

strictly plan and supervise building procedures.

Large, public structures (hotels, for instance) could only be erected in the remote part of Gornje

polje near Neretva (as far from old Počitelj as possible). Their height cannot exceed P+1. They

would satisfy the growing need for tourist accommodation facilities.

There are no plans for erecting residential houses in Donje polje. The only remaining

possibility is the construction of a small restaurant close to the river.

The use of land as described above will preserve and emphasize all the aesthetic and

compositional qualities of Počitelj. That would help increase investment; pass administrative

regulations and financial exemptions to potential builders and land owners.

REFERENCES

Čelebija, Evlija: Putopis, Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1953

Čelić, Džemal: Počitelj Na Neretvi, Naše Starine, Sarajevo, 1960

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Ćirković, Simo: Istorija Srednjovekovne Bosanske Države, Skz, Beograd,

1964

Kadić, Muhamed: Stara Seoska Kuća U Bih, Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1967

Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Banje U Bosni I Hercegovini, Veselin Masleša,

Sarajevo, 1952

Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Esnafi I Obrti U Bosni I Hercegovini, Naučno

Društvo Nr Bih, Knjiga 17, Sarajevo, 1961, P. 104

Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Hanovi I Karavanseraji U Bosni I Hercegovini,

Naučno Društvo Nr Bih, Knjiga 8, Sarajevo, 1957, P. 164 +1 Karta

Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Počitelj Na Neretvi, Kalendar “Narodna

Uzdanica”, Godina 2., Sarajevo, 1934, P. 27-40

Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Sahat Kule, Naše Starine # 4, Sarajevo, 1957, P.

17-23, “Nada” # 8, Sarajevo, 1897

Redžić, Husref: Arhitektura I Dekorativna Umjetnost Islama, Umetničko

Blago Jugoslavije, Beograd, 1969

Truhelka, Ćiro: Tursko-Slovjenski Spomenici Dubrovačke Arhive, Gzm,

Sarajevo, 1911

Vego, Marko: Naselja Bosanske Srednjovjekovne države, Svjetlost, Sarajevo,

1957

Enciklopedija leksikografskog zavoda, Jugoslavenski leksikografski zavod,

Zagreb

Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti, Jugoslavenski leksikografski zavod, Zagreb

Image References

Image 1 by Ćiril Ćiro Raić

Image 2 by painter K. Liebscher, Nada, April 15th 1897

Images 3, 4-Nada, April 15th 1897

Images 5-17 and 19, 20, 22 by Vjekoslava Sanković

Image 18-unknown artist

Image 21-Kriegsarchiv, Wien, 1783

Line drawings (Figures 1-8) by Vjekoslava Sanković

Maps by Vjekoslava Sanković

Original text by Vjekoslava Sanković, Sarajevo, 1971

Translation: Iva Simčić

Language editors: Selma Duraković, Amir Džuliman

Şengül Öymen GÜR Editor

Dr. Gür, a graduate of KTU (M. Arch.-1970), and the University of Pennsylvania, GSAS, (Ph.D-1978); Fulbright scholar, (1972-77) and the DAAD scholar (Berlin, 2002&2008), is the professor and the head of Architectural Design Discipline at KTU, Trabzon, Turkey. She is the author of 14 books and about 300 articles and papers. Dr. Gür who is included in the Directory of Environment-Behavior-Design Researchers and is a member of several professional associations such as CICA (Comité International des Critiques d'Architecture), DRS (Design Research Society), and WA (World Architecture Community) and an intermittent member of IAPS, CIB W84, IAHS, etc., and the honorary member of BTI .

Ahmet Hadrovıć is the dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo University, Bosnia-Herzogovina. He is the professor at Architectural Constructions discipline. He has Ph.D. in Technical Sciences. He teaches Architectural Physics and Bioclimatic Architecture, supervises doctoral students. He has extensively written on Bioclimatic Architecture and Traditional Housing. .

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l countries.

Pavle Krstić graduated in1983 from the Department of Urban Design and Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo University, Bosnia-Herzogovina. He is Assistant Professor at the same department since1987. He also teaches design principles of urban green areas at the Forestry Faculty in Sarajevo. Nihad H. Čengıć is associate professor at the Urbanism and Spatial Planning discipline, Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo University. He has Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of Sarajevo and has done research in public organisations in the field of urban transition. He is extensively engaged in international cooperation since 1995. He has written on education in architecture-urbanism and urban structure change, property and conflicts in transitiona

Rajka Mandić is the professor of Architectural Design, Faculty of Architecture Sarajevo. She has Ph.D. in Theory of Space. She been teaching design studios on graduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels and she has been main adviser to masters and doctoral students. She authored one book and has won a number of awards in national competitions and participated in many architectural academic seminars, workshops, roundtables and conferences

Lejla Kreševljaković (b. 1976) is teaching assistant at the Department of Architectural Design, Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo. She is currently pursuing postgraduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo and PhD studies at the Faculty of Architecture Sarajevo. She participated in various architectural and urban design international workshops.  

Vjekoslava Sanković-Simčić is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sarajevo. She completed Master of Science Program at Facolta di Architettura Universita di Roma, Italy and the PhD Program at the Faculty of Architecture, at University of Zagreb, Croatia. She is based at the Department of History of Architecture and Cultural Heritage Protection at the University of Sarajevo. Dr. Sankovic Simcic is the author of one book and many articles.

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