News
Case Petrovaradin: Historic City Quarters in Focus
The first International Summer Academy on the subject of managing historic urban landscapes will take place from 6th August to 13th August, in the Lower Town of the Petrovaradin Fortress. A group of 30 young experts chosen via public competition, and coming from all five continents, will work in Petrovaradin alongside the key local experts and leading practitioners and theoreticians in the domain of managing historic urban landscapes across Europe.
The lecturers at the Summer Academy will be local and foreign experts, and the majority of the content will consist of direct field work and conceptualizing of development scenarios, projects and recommendations for the Fortress and its Lower Town area. During this time, a series of public lectures, discussions, presentations and media releases will be organized, with the goal of including the wider public and informing it about the current challenges and potentials for the future development of Petrovaradin.
“We have envisioned three evening events for the public, which will provide our fellow citizens with insights into the key discussions, practices and ideas about the management and revival of historic urban quarters around the world, and especially in Novi Sad and Petrovaradin”, said Višnja Kisić, from the organization Europa Nostra.
The first event will be a conversation on the topic “New Challenges, Trends and Approaches in the Management of Historic Urban Cores”, and it will take place on the 7th August at 7 p.m., at Prostor, at 11 Beogradska Street in Petrovaradin. The conversation will be about the contemporary challenges, practices and successful examples of managing historic urban quarters located at various places in the world.
The guests will include Dr. Ana Pereira Roders, the founder of the Global Observatory on Historic Urban Landscapes; Adam Wilkinson, the director of the foundation Edinburgh World Heritage, which manages the historic core of the city of Edinburgh; Dr. Loes Veldpaus, a researcher in the domain of the studies of urbanism, architecture and cultural heritage at the Newcastle University; and Katarina Maksimov, an architect and conservator-restorer at the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Novi Sad.
Beside this one, two more public conversations on the similar topic will be organized.
The second event will take place on 9th August at 7 p.m., at “Fabrika” in Kineska četvrt (the Chinese Quarter), and it will focus on Novi Sad and the topic of revival of hitherto neglected urban quarters through the project Novi Sad European Capital of culture 2021.
“The third and final event, entitled ‘Views from outside: Ideas for the Development of the Petrovaradin Fortress’, is especially interesting because it is the event at which the participants of the Summer Academy will present to the citizens of Novi Sad their perspectives and ideas concerning the future development of the Petrovaradin Fortress”, said Višnja Kisić, adding that the participants come from 26 countries, including India, France, Russia, Ethiopia, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Great Britain and all the countries from the region.
The preparations for the Summer Academy are ongoing; since May this year four research teams, chosen at the public competition, have been doing field research on the topic of space use, tourist valorization, interpretation and management of the Petrovaradin Fortress; the field research will last till the beginning of August, and it should provide the participants of the Summer Academy and the public with a better understanding of the current situation and the challenges the management of the fortress represents.
After the Summer Academy, within the same project, a seminar for the decision makers will be organized. This seminar is destined to urbanists, conservators and decision makers from different cities and municipalities in Serbia, and its goal is to inform the local decision makers about the modern practices in the domain of the management of city cores and about the project results, in order to stimulate the development of historic cities based on heritage conservation. The activities promoting the sustainable management of Petrovaradin will be accompanied by a publication under the name Case Petrovaradin: Dossier, which will cover all the field research done in Petrovaradin, international examples of good practices, and suggestions and recommendations resulting from the Summer Academy for experts.
Prostor – the Lower Town of the Petrovaradin Fortress
The venue for the activities within the project “Case Petrovaradin: Management of Historic Urban Landscapes” is Prostor, at 11 Beogradska Street in the Lower Town of the Petrovaradin Fortress. After the project, Prostor will open its doors to the wider public. Prostor is conceptualized as a place for exchanging knowledge, experiences and ideas, and as a place for joint work and creation, a place from which the first continuous stimuli for the awakening and revitalization of the Lower Town of the Petrovaradin Fortress will flow. Prostor will be a place for conferences, seminars, lectures and workshops on various topics, but also a place for exhibitions, art performances, acoustic concerts, film projections, culinary workshops etc.
The Summer Academy is organized within the project “Case Petrovaradin: Management of Historic Urban Landscapes”, which uses the exceptional urban area of the Petrovaradin Fortress, in Novi Sad, as a platform for the professional specialization of young experts, locally, regionally and across Europe, for responsible, sustainable and developmental management of historic cities. At the same time, the project represents an invitation for rethinking the current practices of managing the Petrovaradin Fortress as a cultural heritage, an opportunity to learn on this example and conceptualize alternatives for its future development.
The project is realized by Europa Nostra Serbia, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Novi Sad, the Faculty of Sports and Tourism in Novi Sad, together with the international partner organizations: Edinburgh World Heritage, Europa Nostra, and the Global Observatory on Historic Urban Landscapes, under the auspices of UNESCO. The project is being realized within the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and Novi Sad European Capital of Culture 2021, and it is supported financially by the British foundation The Headley Trust and the Foundation NS2021.
Why Petrovaradin?
In the midst of the preparations of Novi Sad for the European Capital of Culture 2021, the Petrovaradin Fortress is attracting more and more attention. The restoration works on the fortress and its Lower Town have intensified, the plan for the management of this cultural heritage is in the making, and the public, civil and commercial interest in this space is increasing. It is precisely why the pressure on this urban landscape, on its residents and users, on its multilayered cultural heritage is increasing too, and such pressure requires a series of new transparent expert and participative mechanisms. The goal of the project “Case Petrovaradin” is to place the case of the development of this area in the public space through a series of educational, research and stimulating activities, as well as through the inclusion of various local and international organizations who are interested.
