Understanding the Constraints of City Amelioration: Insights into the specificities of Sarajevo in transition

Abstract

Sarajevo is a city of socio-spatial specificities – a tumultuous history of urban development and promising future abruptly halted by its siege from 1992 to 1995. This state administrative centre has been in transition for the past 28 years, which has become an excuse for its degeneration and lack of initiative for its development. This paper aims to examine the intricate web of administrative, legislative, planning, economic, and socio–spatial boundaries in order to offer answers to the question – what is constraining this city from moving forward? To provide these answers, aerial photos and city plans were analysed, in particular their genesis, a historical review was conducted, and demographic and economic data were analysed, all with regards to the Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL) and its lingering consequences. This paper offers an overview of the interrelationship of factors that create the current post-war transition ambience, and related problems that manifest socially and spatially.