Last updated: May 2025
The "Line Park" project in Belgrade aims to create a continuous green belt spanning 4.6 kilometres and covering over 48 hectares. As such, the project will revitalize the former railway corridor from "Beton Hala", just below the Belgrade Fortress, to the Pancevac Bridge. Inspired by notable urban parks like New York's "High Line", Moscow's "Zagrađe," and Toronto's "Rail Corridor," it will become a major recreational destination and also help to alleviate the pressures from the city's heavy air pollution and summer heat (Ref. 5, 6). The park will be divided into ten thematic sections dedicated to aromatic plant and flower gardens, urban gardening and beekeeping, sports facilities, a newly built university campus and more. Additionally, there will be an amphitheatre and facilities for outdoor education. To further integrate green infrastructure, new buildings will have green roofs and walls (Ref. 2,5). Ultimately, the park integrates a number of amenities into the entire city. The development of the park also introduced innovative co-creation mechanisms in terms of governance and planning. Since Belgrade is part of the multinational CLEVER Cities Initiative, the city's Secretariat for Environmental Protection suggested the use of the site as a pilot test for introducing nature-based solutions in urban planning and with diverse stakeholders' input. Several workshops, focus groups, and consultations took place between 2019 and 2021, which facilitated the diversity of ideas that have been adopted into the official construction plan (Ref. 1, 2). Despite these successes, civil society groups raise concerns over the extraordinary cost of 70 million euros, displacement of Roma communities and the interest of real estate developers that may undermine the project's original cause (Ref. 3, 8).
Plan of the project's 10 sections, each under a different theme and corresponding amenities
https://www.gradnja.rs/linijski-park-beograd/
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Railroad bank and track greens
- Parks and urban forests
- Green corridors and green belts
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Environmental quality
- Air quality improvement
- Soil quality improvement
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
- Enabling opportunities for physical activity
- Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
- Inclusive governance
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social interaction
- Environmental education
- Sense of community and community engagement
- Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
- Economic development: service sectors
- Real estate development
- Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable production
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Climate-Related Hazards
- Heat stress & Extreme temperatures
- Environmental Degradation
- Air pollution
- Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
- Inadequate access to recreational opportunities
- Poor community engagement
Key priorities
Climate action (adaptation and/or mitigation), Biodiversity (conservation and/or restoration), Social Justice and community
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Creation of green corridors (including connectivity between urban and rural ecosystems), Creation of green roofs and walls, Creation of areas for food production (community gardens, allotments), Maintenance and management of urban nature, Urban reforestation, restoration of street trees, Transformation of previously derelict areas, Brownfield redevelopment, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Educational and awareness raising programs, Improved governance of green or blue areas, Creation of new, innovative governance and management approaches, Establishment of inclusive governance mechanisms involving local communities
Project objectives
Goal 1: Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) - Integrate NBS into the urban planning process. (Ref.1,2)
Goal 1.1: Introduce a green corridor to connect the entire inner city to incentivice physical activity.
Goal 1.2: Provide opportunities for recreation and socialization by developing 10 differnet thematic sections to the park. Each with a different focus on well-being.
Goal 1.3: Provide opportunities for formal and informal education. The faculty of music shall be integrated into the park as well as a number of exhibitions.
Goal 1.4: Increasing green space area by redeveloping the railway line to park infrastrure featuring trees and lawn as well as mandating green roof for any new building.
Goal 1.5: Alleviate the pressure from air pollution and summer heat in light of climate change.
Goal 1.6: Increase biodiversty of plants and foster human-nature realtionships through urban beekeeping and community gardening sections.
Goal 2.: Intoduce inclusive governance mechanisms that facilitate community engangement. (Ref.1)
Goal 3: Attact Businesses and other Economic Drivers to the site. (Ref.2)
Goal 4: Do not harm cultural and historic infrastucture adjacent to the park. (Ref.2)
Implementation activities
1) Project Development Phase (Ref.1):
Summer - Early Autumn 2019: Multiple consultation rounds with Belgrade City Authorities, CEUS, and the Secretariat for Environmental Protection to align on objectives for integrating Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and co-creation.
Autumn 2019: CEUS and local partners map and engage stakeholders to identify the local context for the CLEVER Cities project.
November 2019: Launch of the Urban Innovation Partnership (UIP) with discussions on NBS and initial vision mapping.
December 2019 - January 2020: Two focus groups held; CEUS conducts an online survey to gather public input on park activities.
Early 2020: CEUS, in collaboration with urban planners, finalizes a competition for young transdisciplinary teams, receiving innovative proposals for park development.
2) Public Consultations (Ref. 1)
May 13–27, 2020: Early Public Consultation (EPC) conducted during COVID-19 lockdown.
May - June 2021: Scheduled Public Consultation to review plans with wider community input.
Ongoing: Maintain engagement through newsletters
3) Implementation of the 1st section (Ref. 5) :
Demolition of the old railway tracks and prep. work for construction
Installation of amenities and greenery i.e. trees, benches, walkways, playgrounds
Creation of underpasses and overpasses for vehicles as well as garages and parking lots
Excavation of an archeological site close to the Belgrade Fortress, revealed during site preparations.
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Increase urban vegetation cover to reduce urban heat island effect
- Implement sustainable urban drainage schemes to manage stormwater
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore ecological connectivity
- Public engagement
Main beneficiaries
- Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
- Researchers/University
- Citizens or community groups
- Young people and children
- Other
Governance
Management set-up
- Government-led
Type of initiating organisation
- Local government/municipality
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Deliberative decision-making processes (e.g., consensus building, deliberative polling)
- Dissemination of information and education
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
"it was proposed by Belgrade’s City Authorities’ Secretariat for Environmental Protection as a testbed for introducing the NBS in urban planning practice within the CLEVER Cities project" (Ref. 1)
"The planning task is assigned to the Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade" (Ref.1)
"Particularly strong interest and proactive inputs and ideas were received from secondary schools and public cultural and educational institutions." (Ref.1)
"The work on the first part of the Linijski Park was completed by "Greenery Belgrade" (Ref. 5)
" the investor [of the] Linear Park conceptual designs—the SEBRE company" (Ref. 1)
Co development by Centre for Experiments in Urban Studies (CEUS) as a local representation of the EU-funded Multinational CLEVER Cities project.
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
No
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
( The Belgrade Land Development Agency has initiated the development of a Detailed Regulation Plan (PDR) for this area which was further developed into a Urban Greening Plan with support fromt the ICLEI and CEUS,)
Type of enablers
Capacity-building projects, Governance innovations (such as public private partnerships), Support from transitional governance actors, NBS research project (e.g., H2020, Urban Living Labs, national research projects), Funds, subsidies or investment for GI/NBS in the city (available for the city or provided by the city)
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
Source(s) of funding
- Public local authority budget
- Public national budget
- Corporate investment
- EU funds
- National or regional development bank
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
- Loan
- Donations
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Lowered local temperature
- Expected lowered local temperature
- Environmental quality
- Improved air quality
- Expected improved air quality
- Reduced noise exposure
- Expected reduced noise exposure
- Improved soil quality
- Expected improved soil quality
- Water management and blue areas
- Improved stormwater management
- Expected improved stormwater management
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Expected increased green space area
- Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
- Expected increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
- Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
- Expected increased conversion of degraded land or soil
- Increased number of species present
- Expected increased number of species present
- Enhanced support of pollination
- Expected enhanced support of pollination
- Restoration of derelict areas
- Expected restoration of derelict areas
Economic impacts
- Increased property prices
- Expected increased property prices
- Attraction of business and investment
- Expected attraction of business and investment
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved social cohesion
- Achieved improved social cohesion
- Improved liveability
- Expected improved liveability
- Improved access to urban green space
- Expected improved access to urban green space
- Increased opportunities for social interaction
- Expected increased opportunities for social interaction
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Expected increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Health and wellbeing
- Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Expected gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Enhanced cognitive restoration, relaxation and stress relief
- Expected enhanced cognitive restoration, relaxation and stress relief
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Expected improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Expected protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Education
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
- Expected increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Social justice and conflicts, Displacement of vulnerable or marginalized communities, Gentrification, Loss of cultural heritage (e.g. culturally significant sites, traditional practices, and indigenous knowledge systems), Other
References
1.
Mitic-Radulovic, A., Lalovic, K. (2021). Multi-Level Perspective on Sustainability Transition towards Nature-Based Solutions and Co-Creation in Urban Planning of Belgrade, Serbia . Sustainability, Accessed on August 30, 2024, [Source link];
2.
City Municipalities Stari Grad and Palilula (n.d.). Urban Plan of Detail Regulation. Accessed on August 30, 2024, [Source link];
3.
Za! Dobar Grad (2022). Linijski park ili Linijska prevara?. Accessed on August 31, 2024, [Source link];
4.
Popovic, P.V. (2023). Linijski park na dugom štapu: Šapić i Vesić prebacuju lopticu jedan drugom. N1, Accessed on August 31, 2024, [Source link];
5.
Belgrade Municipality (2024). BEOGRAĐANI DOBIJAJU LINIJSKI PARK: Zelena oaza u samom srcu grada povezuje urbani deo s rekama. Accessed on August 30, 2024, [Source link];
6.
Stari Grad (2024). „LINIJSKI PARK“ – ZELENA OAZA STAROG GRADA SA BOGATIM SPORTSKO-REKREATIVNIM I KULTURNIM SADRŽAJIMA, OD BETON HALE DO PANČEVAČKOG MOSTA. Accessed on August 31, 2024, [Source link];
7.
Ivanovic, M. (2020). Linijski park: od A do Š. Gradnja, Accessed on August 31, 2024, [Source link];
8.
FoNet (2022). Ne davimo Beograd: Projektom „Linijski park“ se prikriva privatizacija obala. N1, Accessed on August 31, 2024, [Source link];
Aerial image of the first section of the line park close to the Belgrade Fortress
https://gradonacelnik.beograd.rs/lat/Vesti/Gradske-aktuelnosti/a84802/Beogradjani-dobijaju-linijski-park.html
Inputs from a range of stakeholders during the co-development phase
https://clevercities.eu/news/?c=search&uid=1ygvGdna
Overview of the pre-implementation, participatory processes
file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/sustainability-13-07576.pdf
A participatory workshops
https://clevercities.eu/news/?c=search&uid=1ygvGdna
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.