Expeditio representative participated in a summer school of the Balkan Express network, which was held on the island of Cres in Croatia from 23 to 31 July 2011. The network is a platform for the exchange and cooperation of cultural actors in the Balkan area. During the summer school, participants from Slovnia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium and Montenegro had an opportunity to talk about future joint projects, challenges of the cultural sector and sustainability of the network.

On Wednesday, 27 July 2011, the 21^st session of the National Council for Sustainable Development was held. The session had the following agenda:

Reports on the Council’s work between two sessions – repors presented by the coordinators of the Working Group and the Council’s Secretary (representative of Expeditio):

a)  A report on the work of the Council’s Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production in the process of reviewing the Draft Law on Construction Products

b) A report on the establishment of the Council’s  Working Group for the Sustainability of Space in Montenegro

c) A report on the preparations for the participation of Montenegro in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012

The workshop “Suburban Exchange” (Tirana, 18-25 July 2011) is organised within the project “Revival of City Squares in Balkan Cities”.

The project “Revival of City Squares in Balkan Cities” aims to contribute to revival of city squares as sustainable public places which preserve cultural identity and promote differences through implementation of public policies and active involvement of community. It is implemented in partnership with Co-PLAN and U-Polis from Albania, Coalition for Sustainable Development from Macedonia, and EXPEDITIO. The project donor is Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans (SCP) within the Regional Cooperation Projects programme.

Representative of our organization, Biljana Gligoric, participated in the 3^rd training for schools organized within the project EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE WESTERN BALKANS - Capacity Building and Support to Schools. The training was held on Zlatibor, from 29 June untill 1 July 2011. The training included the following topics: an analysis of the situation, problem analysis (the problem tree), the tree of goals, etc.

The project Education for Sustainable Development in the Western Balkans has been implemeted since April 2009. The aim of the project is to provide support to schools and communities to work jointly towards sustainable development. It is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and its total value is EUR 3,807,000.00.

Workshop aiming to raise the level of knowledge on basic principles of environmental protection and sustainable spatial development, as well as on EU recommendations and experiences, targeted at the representatives of state institutions at all levels, was organized in the frame of the project “EkoPlan – Monitoring of the implementation of sustainable spatial development principle and environmental protection the spatial planning documents in Montenegro”. The main topic was How to improve the programming tasks in order to enable direct implementation of the abovementioned principles in the spatial planning documents.   

Once renowned for their strict government-controlled spatial planning, many former communist cities in the Western Balkans have been transformed by feverish and uncontrolled urban growth. How can new cultures of spatial planning be created in a region where not only residents but even architects and urban planners can feel excluded from spatial developments? In collaboration with POLIS University, Co-PLAN, EXPEDITIO and ASA, the NAI is organising a Debate on Tour to Tirana, Podgorica and Sarajevo from 4 to 6 July 2011 to address these issues.

In January 2011, the non-governmental organizations Green Home and Expeditio started to implement the project entitled “Monitoring of Implementation of Principles of Sustainable Spatial Development and Environmental Protection in Spatial Planning Documents of Montenegro”. The Project was supported by the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI), representative office in Podgorica. One of activities implemented within this project is the workshop entitled “Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection in Spatial Planning Documents of Montenegro” in which the project and results obtained by implementation of project-related activities will be presented.

The representative of Expeditio, Aleksandra Kapetanovic, attended the 4th International Course on the Conservation of Modern Architecture (MARC 2011) – “Metamorphosis – Understanding and Managing Changes” held in Helsinki, Finland, from 28 May until 23 June 2011.

Does Budva need 23-storey high-rise towers, which will be the tallest buildings on the coast? Why do we keep reproducing errors and devastating the most beautiful parts of our coast by some oversized construction projects? Have we, as a society, ever wondered about where the excessive construction leads and have we learnt any lessons from the recent past? Read an article on this topic published in the portal ANALITIKA

On Friday, 27 May 2011, EXPEDITIO representatives attended the first architectural conference in Montenegro, organized by the newly formed Urban and Architectural Association of Montenegro - UAAM. The conference gathered the following guest speakers from ex-Yugoslavia: Professor Aleksandar Keković, Montenegro; Ivan Kučina, Serbia; Penezić & Rogina, Croatia; Saša Begović - 3LHD, Croatia. The event was attended by a large number of visitors.

Grupa postdiplomaca sa  Univerziteta Pensilvanija (SAD) u okviru ljetnog kursa na temu zaštite i valorizacije kulturne baštine posjetila je krajem maja 2011. našu organizaciju. U programu saradnje između Arhitektonskog fakulteta Univerziteta Pensilvanija, Opštine Kotor i Arhitektonskog fakulteta u Podgorici, studenti ove godine već drugi put borave u Kotoru. Grupu predvodi prof.dr. Michele Lamprakos dok u njihovom nastavnom programu u Crnoj Gori učestvuje doc.dr. Ilija Lalošević, profesor Arhitektonskog fakulteta u Podgorici.

On 12 May 2011, a round table entitled “Sustainable Architecture - From Luxury to Necessity” was held In Podgorica. The round table was organized within a large ecological campaign “Ecological Link that Connects Us” launched by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism.