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66
Belgrade’s Garden Colonies:
Where Memory, Nature, and
People Meet
As a form of urban agriculture, urban gardening has
always been part of everyday life in cities in Serbia.
Belgrade brimmed with private urban gardens
during the Ottoman Empire’s reign until the end of
the nineteenth century (Vuksanović-Macura and
Ćorović 2016). With the withdrawal of the Ottoman
Empire from Serbia in the late nineteenth century,
and Turkish families forced to leave the city, the net-
work of gardens, which for centuries had contrib-
uted to the city’s structure and character, fell into
disrepair (Vuksanović-Macura and Ćorović 2013).
The pro-European urban development of Belgrade
at the turn of the twentieth century also had an
impact, increasing the value of the land in the city,
inducing a higher degree of lot coverage (Vuksanović-
Macura and Ćorović 2016) and pushing gardens
toward the urban fringe.
With the urbanization of Belgrade, sanitary con-
ditions in the central parts of the city started to
worsen. The concept of allotment gardens or bašten-
ske kolonije (garden colonies) was mentioned for
the rst time in this context. In an article published
in 1932 in the Belgrade municipal paper Beogradske
opštinske novine, the head of the Department for
Parks and Reforestation, Aleksandar Krstić, proposed
the establishment of garden colonies in Belgrade,
similar to cities in England, Denmark, Germany, and
other European countries. He presented garden
colonies as a reaction to the poor conditions of life
in the overpopulated central parts of the city where
inhabitants “had no or at most insucient con-
tact with nature” (Krstić 1932, 206). Hereby, the im-
portance of contact with nature was recognized,
stressing that “the population from big cities should
never lose it completely, since most noble human
characteristics come from it” (206). It took another
three decades for the rst garden colonies to appear,
unregistered and invisible to ocial town planning.
Historical Development of Garden Colonies
and Their Status Today
The period after WorldWar II was a time of rapid
industrialization in Yugoslavia, followed by a mas-
sive migration of people from rural areas into cities,
and the large-scale development of collective
housing. Beside the signicant positive impacts of
the new settlements on the quality of life in the
city, small living spaces, unused open spaces, the
scarcity of public and commercial services, and
a lack of architectural identity of apartment blocks
were less favorable characteristics of these new
neighborhoods.
The transition from rural to urban life in Belgrad
e
was abrupt. For most of the inhabitants, the material
conditions in new residential blocks were far above
the level of their housing in rural areas (Stojanović
1975), and living in collective residential buildings
meant a massive change in their habits and the
way of life. In such circumstances, in the 1960s and
1970s, the rst garden colonies started to emerge.
The process was spontaneous and informal. Driven
by old habits of land cultivation and a desire to
be in contact with nature (Djokić et al. 2018), new
residents claimed vacant public land in the
Slavica C
ˇepic´ , Dragana C
´orovic´, and Jelena Tomic´ evic´ -Dubljevi´c
67The Concept of Cultural Memory and Practice
proximity of their apartment blocks, divided it into
plots, and transformed it into gardens. Gardeners
tended their plots individually and used them as their
private gardens despite the mainstream ideology of
the time that advocated communal property. In that
period, a similar phenomenon was also taking place
in other large cities in Yugoslavia, such as Zagreb
(Gulin Zrnić and Rubić 2018; Slavuj Borčić et al. 2016).
The history of garden colonies in Belgrade is
poorly documented. This can be attributed to their
informal (or illegal) character and the lack of plans
that would explain their development. The rst
ocial record of garden colonies inside the bounda-
ries of the Master Plan of Belgrade was in 2007
when they were recognized and mapped as a bio-
tope type (Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade
2007). The rst planning document oering recom-
mendations for the development of garden colo-
nies was adopted in 2019 (Urban Planning Institute
of Belgrade 2019). However, these documents did
not consider the social and historical importance of
the existing garden colonies, and they failed to oer
specic and implementable measures for the
gardens’ protection and integration into the urban
green infrastructure.
Study Areas
The content of this paper is based on studies con-
ducted in four garden colonies located in dier-
ent urban zones, from suburban to central, in geo-
graphically distinct parts within the administra-
tive boundary of the city of Belgrade [Fig.1]. The stud-
ies were done within the framework of the disser-
tation of Slavica Čepić on the socioeconomic bene-
ts of urban gardens and opportunities for their
integration into the green infrastructure of the City
of Belgrade. During the studies, elements such as
boundaries, paths, and places of assembly, as well as
the structures, materials, and plants within the
garden colonies, were identied and recorded and
the overall accessibility and social use of the studied
spaces were observed and documented. Further-
more, eight semistructured in-depth interviews with
the gardeners were conducted in April and May
2019, focusing on the garden colonies’ history, the
motivations for gardening, and gardening practices.
The garden colonies in the municipal district
of New Belgrade and the neighborhood of Filmski
Grad are located in highly urbanized areas. They
Fig. 1 Locations of the studied garden colonies
Fig. 2 Aerial view of the garden colony in New Belgrade
(Block 58)
0500 1000 m N
Great War Island
Besni Fok
New Belgrade (Block 58)
Filmski Grad
0100 200 300 500 m N
68
are situated in blocks that are either undeveloped
or partially developed, waiting to be transformed
according to the land use predicted by the planning
documents [Fig.2]. New Belgrade is the largest
collective housing settlement in Belgrade, whose
construction began in 1948 (Blagojević 2005). Filmski
Grad is at the edge of the forest park Košutnjak
[Fig.3]. The garden colony here is in the vicinity of
the modern residential settlement Skojevsko,
which was developed at the beginning of the 1980s
(Tomić 1981). The high value of construction land
in these areas combined with the pressure of devel-
oping residential and business complexes in these
locations poses a real threat and puts the future of
these two garden colonies at risk.
The garden colony on the Great War Island has
a remarkable position—the island is the city’s
green heart and is under nature protection [Fig.4].
On the other hand, the gardens here are character-
ized by the proximity to and good connection
with the residential urban tissue, separated from it
only by the river. Besni Fok is one of the settle-
ments developed after World War II in the north
peri-urban zone of Belgrade and was conceived for
the employees of the Agricultural Combine. In
the 1970s, modern buildings for individual and col-
lective housing were constructed in the area
(Mendelson 1975), and the gardens were formed
in their surroundings [Fig.5].
Garden Colonies as Social and
Cultural Arenas
Most of the interviewed gardeners belong to the
second or third generation of plot holders. In
most cases, they inherited the gardens from their
cousins, neighbors, or friends who previously
gardened the plots. The median age of respondents
is seventy, and most have been gardening the
plots for an average of twentyyears, some as long
as fortyyears. The majority of them moved from
the countryside to the city at a young age and later
worked in the industrial sector. They learned about
gardening from their older and more experienced
neighbors, who taught them how to cultivate the
soil and to grow fruits and vegetables, passing on
valuable knowledge of practices in the process.
A gardener from Besni Fok who inherited the plot
from his parents-in-law said: “Even today, my
mother-in-law comes here with a walking cane and
shows me at what distances to plant.” This inter-
generational transfer of knowledge and continuity
in gardening practices suggests the existence of
what Barthel et al. (2010) call social-ecological mem-
ory. Social-ecological memory is how “knowl-
edge, experience and practice about how to manage
a local ecosystem and its services is retained in a
community, and modied, revived and transmitted
through time” (256). This occurs through partici-
pation processes, such as sharing gardening advice,
exchanging seeds and planting material, imitating
Fig. 3 Garden colony in Filmski Grad
Fig. 4 Aerial view of the garden colony on the Great War
Island
0100 200 300 500 m N
69
Fig. 6 Garden plot on the Great War Island
Fig. 5 Garden colony in Besni Fok
The Concept of Cultural Memory and Practice
70
cultivation practices, and planning and tending
the garden, including the physical elements that per-
sist through time, such as trees and built structu-
res like toolsheds and fences [Fig.6]. These elements
are “products of past participation,” and they con-
tinue to inuence “on-going practices and relations”
(261). For instance, a gardener from New Belgrade
showed us the nut trees that he planted twenty
years ago at the edge of the garden right next to the
sidewalk. Nowadays, these trees conveniently
conceal the garden from the street, serving as a
hedge and attracting passers-by, who stop and pick
nuts. Furthermore, each garden plot usually has
a gathering place—a table with benches and chairs
where gardeners and their friends and families
spend time together [Fig.7]. An 89-year-old gardener
from the colony on the Great War Island described
the social life in the garden as follows: “When
we have a bit of free time, we play a game of chess.
We sit down, have a drink, coee, hang out. It
is nice.”
Through gardening practices, some gardeners
also revive the connection with their homeland. For
instance, in a garden in New Belgrade, a gardener
planted a g tree “just like in Montenegro,” where
he was born. Another gardener grows a mixture
of herbs on the Great War Island that is typical for
the mountain area in Croatia where he was born,
which he talks about emotionally and with pride.
Connection with a place of origin, which is realized
through gardening and contact with nature, rein-
forces the gardeners’ sense of identity.
When asked to reect on their motives to gar-
den, the connection with nature appeared to be
an underlying motivation for many. Being outside
in the fresh air, working with soil and plants, and
enjoying nature were common answers. The garden
colonies provide an escape from the busy and
frenetic life of the city. As Crouch noted, a garden
is a place to escape from the family, a refuge
“from the sounds and associations of home” (1989,
265), a sentiment echoed in the words of one of
the gardeners: “I ran away from home, let me tell
you. I leave the garden in the evening and I can’t
wait for the morning to come.” Some gardeners
described gardening also as a habit, an activity that
the body longs for, that nurtures physical and
mental health.
Fig. 7 Gathering place at an individual’s plot on the Great War Island
71
Threats and Values
The garden colonies in Belgrade continue to exist
today, although their number has reduced as a result
of urban development (Adžić 2012). Despite the
growing interest by citizens in collective urban gar-
dening (Čepić et al. 2020), these activities are still
not regulated. The lack of planning and institutional
tools that would recognize and protect allotment
gardens as a legitimate form of land use made garden
colonies vulnerable to urban growth. Moreover, the
insecure land tenure, the absence of garden associa-
tions, and the aging of the population of garden-
ers intensified the problem. As a consequence of
this situation, the number of plots on the Great
War Island has decreased from around 190 in the
1960s to 30–40 plots today, according to one of
the oldest gardeners.
Against these challenges and threats, we argue
that the preservation of the garden colonies is of great
importance due to the following historical, spatial,
social, and cultural values they incorporate:
1. Garden colonies testify to the development of
the city and everyday life of the inhabitants of work-
ing-class neighborhoods built in the 1960s and
1970s in two ways: rst through their spatial layout
and physical elements, such as trees and built
structures; and secondly through social-ecological
memory and the intergenerational transfer of
practice and knowledge.
2. Today garden colonies are a signicant spatial
resource for the collective housing settlements and
their surroundings, where open green spaces dis-
appear due to urban growth and construction. The
gardens facilitate local food production, contact
with nature, leisure and recreation, and socialization,
especially for the elderly population. Furthermore,
gardening is an important economic activity for
some users.
A Way Forward
Based on all abovementioned, it is evident that
perceiving garden colonies only as ecological ele-
ments of the biotope network, which is currently
the case, is not sucient. To integrate the historical,
cultural, and social dimensions of these places into
the reections on the city’s future development, the
historic urban landscapes approach (UNESCO
2011) could be used as a framework. This holistic
approach takes into consideration the goals of
both urban heritage conservation and social and
economic development. Through the lens of
the historic urban landscape approach, it would be
possible to explore the potential of garden colo-
nies to be a source of local heri
tage—providing infor-
mation on the history of the place as well as on
the needs, social interactions, traditions, and agri-
cultural practices of the people who established
them and those who still use them today.
Further research is needed on:
1. The historical context of the development
of garden colonies (political, social, cultural, and
economic factors);
2. The physical layout and built elements of the
garden colonies as expressions of needs, creativity,
and skills of former and present gardeners;
3. The opportunities of intergenerational knowledge
transfer—older and more experienced gardeners
may pass on knowledge and skills to young people
who could otherwise lose touch with the natural
environment and food production practices;
4.
The economic importance of the production
of fruits, vegetables, and owers, especially for vul-
nerable groups.
A broader view of garden colonies as part of the
historic urban landscape and green infrastructure
would create arguments for their integration
into public policies and planning practices, which
is a necessary condition for their preservation as
a valuable resource for future generations. ■
Acknowledgments:
The dissertation of Slavica C
ˇepi´c on the socioeconomic
benefits of urban gardens and opportunities for their
integration into the green infrastructure of the City of
Belgrade was supported by the Ministry of Education,
Science and Technological Development of the Republic
of Serbia.
The Concept of Cultural Memory and Practice
