Žaklina Gligorijević, a renowned urban planner, shares with us her experiences of different roles an architect can play in his/her career. This is another in the series of texts within the project by CAB: Women in Architecture.

On Beginnings and Curiosity

Back in high school, I wanted to practice interior design; I had some practical skills and eventually decided to study architecture. Dealing with different aspects of urban space in urbanism courses of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture surprised me and made me curious about context, sociology, urban reconstruction and various and complex planning issues.

I was lucky to get to work on real plans and projects at the very beginning of my career: in Faculty of Architecture, and planning institutions like CEP, Centre for Urban Development Planning or Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade. I could compare the advantages and differences of both planning in public and private sector and learn about different aspects of urbanism: creativity, public debates, legal demands or obstacles, field work, different cities, landscapes and cultures… Working also on competitions and architectural design projects, I had to accept the wonders of procedure and the necessity to compromise as a hard part of professional growing-up. It seems that each new project has spurred new ambition, and it has been the case still.

Figure 1. ISOCARP Congress, Perm, Russia, 2012 

I believe curiosity led me through different areas of architecture and urbanism, but the changing market conditions also forced us architects to master skills and knowledge of both disciplines. What kept me in this business was perseverance and faith that our professional engagement could improve the reality. As time passes, I have found out that patience and understanding of various interests or priorities of different stakeholders became crucial for the success of projects.

On Advices

Arm yourself with knowledge and patience, as challenging times are ahead for our profession: the world is accelerating, technology is advancing, all that you though you knew today, will be obsolete tomorrow. So be most patient in practice and hasty in constant pursuit for new knowledge and skills.

The first advice, or at least the first that intrigued me for years, I got from my professor Ranko Radović at my final year of studies. He asked us what our passion in urbanism was. He argued that there would be no outstanding results without the passion involved. At that time, as a worried student, I mainly wondered what my obligations were – not my passions. It was years later, as I gathered some experience and professional self esteem, to undertake new projects with joy and found his message to be true: professional passion is a motor that constantly keeps one going farther and requires more and better achievements.

Figure 2. Creative Barcelona in Belgrade

The other challenge, if not advice, came from my professor Kayden, who was teaching relation of design, law, and policy on Harvard GSD. In a debate on beauty, quality design through rules, regulation and laws in urbanism, he opposed the thesis that the beauty of the architecture or design is (only) in the eye of the beholder, and gave an argument for professionals to appraise and value design; he stated that there must be a reason why so many generations have studied and graduated from the Graduate School of Design… Ten years later, I still miss this kind of theoretical challenges, in times when creating zoning or urban design rules in plans has been considered a routine, understood, especially by non-professionals as rigid and as an obstacle for development instead as the framework, the guideline for realization of quality architectural solutions. Regulation of urban space seems especially simple to other professions: three parameters, mathematical formulas, piece of cake. There are skills and knowledge needed to compose an efficient and quality urban plan, a higher degree of understanding and education, a value added to just architectural design.

On Career Traps

Like in other professions, it is important for an ambitious woman not to neglect other aspects of life, family, friends, hobbies and pleasures, as the price of dedicated professional success. To enjoy in your work is a must! Too many worries and efforts on things we cannot influence bring only wrinkles and enemies. Luckily, architectural education provides a spectrum of opportunities for creative and fulfilling jobs, so fatigue or monotony caused by modest achievements of your everyday work can be cured through participation in design competitions, studies or related artistic disciplines.

On Most Important Work

Authorship is less important in urban and strategic planning I think, than successful management or careful synthesis, especially for accomplishments in big, important, long projects. Female principle in complex projects is to manage and lead with restrained vanity and personal promotion, all in service of the task before you. Those are female qualities. It does not apply to academic work or competitions, as creativity within given limits and a personal attitude bring success and great personal fulfillment. For all my big projects it took a lot of patience, preparations, diplomacy, coordination with numerous authors, stakeholders, professionals, creative individuals, complicated procedures, short deadlines, limited resources and different, opposing interests. Some of those I completed myself, some were finalized by others, some as a result of great team work, some were signed by other authors or managers, but in all, with no exception, I invested personal and professional engagement, skills and experience gained in the various roles played: of a design engineer, urban planner, team leader, organizer or director.

Figure 3. Perast Urban Project

My serious professional challenges were plans for protected heritage areas, like the Urban Project for Perast (Kotor Municipality, Montenegro), or new generation strategic plans, like Master Plan for Kraljevo 2000, changes to the Belgrade Master Plan 2021/2, City of Belgrade Development Strategy, Belgrade High-rise Study and a set of spatial and urban plans for Belgrade in the last four years, etc. I am especially proud of ten years organization of the Komunikacije conference, where I met excellent people and gathered skills to participate or organize international conferences, events and seminars.

Figure 4. Belgrade Master Plan 2021/2

The most challenging task, in terms of meeting my own professional principles and the expectations of investors was leadership of the team that worked on Changes to the Belgrade Master Plan and the organization and work on plans for Belgrade under the Law on Planning and Construction from 2009. The great achievement of the whole team of Belgrade Urban Planning Institute was the planning process for ten plans of general regulation of the building area of the city.

On Personal Development and Influences

Working experience in different environments, different cities and on different topics helps one understanding mechanisms of urban management and design. Individual architectural works participate in forming the quality of urban spaces, but it’s not guaranteed by the most beautiful and attractive buildings. It is interesting that subaltern architecture, complying with common regulation, created the quality of many favorable urban cores of European cities. Compared to my perception of architecture before, I now believe that understanding and creation of architecture in context has been one of the greatest challenges for our profession!

Rich experience and different roles of an architect involved in planning processes enable better understanding of the so-called big picture, the overall process of urban genesis, from planning ideas, decision making and the overall feasibility for their implementation. Both successful and unsuccessful projects, accepted and rejected proposals, small and large projects and constant decision making that was changing my goals during the planning process, have been all the lessons for professional maturity. I have been lucky to meet and exchange thoughts with some of the greatest architectural names of today, city architects, leaders of greatest urban planning institutes worldwide, and professors from prestigious architecture and urban planning schools. Each of those encounters, their advices and comments, as well as every city I visited or learned about, influenced my choices and altered, calibrated my goals. I understand that many great ideas remain on paper and have not been not worth grieving for, but that doesn’t mean I gave up good ideas. I just try to set realistic, achievable goals, so I can reach them more often.

On the Role of Urban Planner and Other Roles

The mediation of different interests is the greatest challenge for an urban planner: to coordinate in the best possible way the interests of governments, investors, profession and citizens. The best way to understand different interests is to try yourself in as many roles, as I have, luckily, managed during my 25 years of practice. On master studies at great planning schools, like Harvard GSD, this changing roles is a part of learning process at courses on large, e.g. public-private projects. Negotiating and mediating skills are gained through teamwork, where each participant takes one of the roles: once you are a lawyer, next time the representative of the government, economist, architect, developer, urban planner, you protect the heritage, representing neighborhood, etc. This kind of education helps and eases the demanding communication needed in all urban plans.

Figure 5. Exhibition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2008

To be successful in this role, one needs the knowledge, open-mindedness and the capacity to understand, consider and accept the arguments of all involved parties, to search for agreement, enable compromise or insist on an issue, all depending on the project and location. One of my most important criteria for advocacy and decision making is whether the projects are feasible for realization.

Žaklina Gligorijević, M.Sc. is definitely a well-known name in Serbian urban planning. As an architect-planner or organizer-manager, she was directly involved in preparation of plans that shaped Belgrade and other cities the way they look, or might look today, or provided the framework for their development in the future. Her public appearances have been always noted, representing Belgrade Urban Planning Institute, or earlier Centre for Urban Development Planning, always underlining, besides direct involvement in practice, her experience gained through post-graduate studies in the United States.

Preservation of the Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage represents the framework of the urban plan for the town of Perast.

Perast is located on the south-western slope of the Sveti Ilija hill, opposite the Verige strait, the natural entrance into the inner Kotor-Risan basin of the branchy Bokokotorski Bay. The town of Perast is a protected urban area which is part of the Natural and Cultural-Historical Region of Kotor inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage list.

While preparing the Urban Project the practice that tends to mere formalization of the current state was abandoned, and priority was given to the revitalization of each segment of the heritage and to the reconstruction of resources. The aim of the Urban Project is revitalization of the town and it has been carried out through the principle of continuity at the level of individual buildings, groups and complexes, the complete picture of the town with the islands and the coastline, as well as at the level of the natural environment.

Both the tradition and historical values, protected buildings and the settlement unity are here in another angel, light and plan: continuity is an integral and vital part of today’s practice, and things of the past are precious corner elements in it, even less in space than in the approaches and attitude!

The Urban Plan has been based on the fact that the town of Perast has reached “its growth limits” and that it will not expand beyond the present scope. Crucially important is the attitude that the residential function should be kept in the town. In this respect, the Plan elaborates in more detail the program of facilities, tourism and central along with the infrastructural and utility equipment, as well as the regime of road and water traffic. It does not represent a new strategy of development, but respecting the principle of the town continuity, the tradition, modernity and the future –it functionally improves the existing structures by complementing the existing facilities with new compatible facilities with adequate capacities.

The Urban Design has established the principles of renewal, the rules for each form of intervention and the limits of possible development, based on evaluation of the architectural heritage through analysis of the physical structure and characteristics, the functions of the building, blocks and free spaces from the original texture over the phases of change to the existing state.

Urban project for the city of Perast (Montenegro), prepared by the team of  MonteCEP from Kotor, was awarded the first prize in the cathegory of urban projects at the XXI Salon of urban planning, organized by the Association of urban planners of Serbia in Leskovac 2012. Team leader and the author of this text is Zorana Milošević, Dipl. -Ing. Arch.