Workshop “Kotor City Squares”, 29 August

In the period 29 August - 4 September 2011, NGO Expeditio organized the workshop “Kotor City Squares”. The workshop was part of the project “Revival of City Squares in Balkan Cities”.

The project “Revival of City Squares in Balkan Cities” aims to contribute to the revival of city squares as viable public places that foster cultural identity and promote diversity through enforcement of public policies and active community participation. It is conducted in partnership of the organizations Co-PLAN and U-Polis from Albania, the Coalition for Sustainable Development from Macedonia and EXPEDITIO, Montenegro.

The project is funded by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans (SCP) under the Regional Cooperation Projects programme line. The project includes the organizing of three architectural workshops (in Tirana, Durres, Skoplje and Kotor), which are supported by the Foundation Open Society Macedonia (FOSIM), through the East East: Partnership beyond Borders Program.

The workshop “Kotor City Squares” was organized by EXPEDITIO as one of the partners in the project. Additional information about the workshop can be found here.

The moderator of the workshop was Professor Ružica Božović Stamenović, currently teaching at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade. During the last 11 years, she taught at the Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore. Her CV can be downloaded here.

The workshop was attended by 30 students of architecture and young professional from the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo). The topics explored by the students during the workshop include: Reading the Space, FUNction, Connections, Walkscape, the Poetics of Space. During the workshop, the students held several performances in the Old City in order to examine how the citizens and tourists understand and respond to their ideas. Furthermore, at the final presentation, held at Bizanti Palace in Kotor, the students presented their ideas and possible guidelines for the improvement of Kotor city squares and their life. Some of the students’ observations referred to a large number of coffee bars and restaurants that occupy the space of squares and turn them into “streets”, insufficient number of public facilities (i. e., the contents that are not charged), contribution to the poetics of squares, using the potentials of the contact zone between the Old City and its immediate surroundings, etc. Soon, a report with the workshop results will be available on Expeditio’s website.

The workshop was preceded by Research on Kotor City Squares.

The next and final in the series of three workshops will be held in Skoplje, Macedonia, on 10-17 October 2011.

The workshop participants at Bizanti Palace.