Landscape Democracy 2015 Working Group E - Case Study 4

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Place name	Picin Park
Location	Banja Luka
Country	Bosnia Herzegovina
Author(s)	Azra Kunic

Rationale: Why have you chosen this case for the landscape and democracy seminar?

Banja Luka is a second largest city in Bosnia and Hercegovina, country located in a south-western Europe. Back in 2003, the assembly of City of Banja Luka gave a permission to local real estate developer to build large (30.000m2) mixed used project (mostly residential and commercial). The location for this development was an area known as a public park with common name Picin Park. This unformal park, was one of the few green areas in the city center of Banja Luka. In 2012, when construction work commenced, citizens of Banja Luka led by environmental enthusiasts formed an initiative called “Park is ours” and protested daily for over a year. This was the first time that people protested over environmental issues given that the country is struggling economically and socially. Unfortunately protests did not stop the construction, but it brought together large number of citizens and NGOs and triggered many unsolved structural issues in the country.

Representation of your observations

you are basically free to use one or a mix of different presentation techniques
possibilities are: analytical drawings, graphical representations, collages, video clips, comic/graphic novel, written essay/visual essay
please add any visual material to the gallery, videos can be placed below, you may add text as you like

Observations
case representation
case representation
case representation

Protests Video

Reflection

What are the major challenges for changing the situation?

Bosnia and Herzegovina, being a country in transition, has many structural problems that go beyond environmental issues. Corruption on every level of government is one of the major challenges that needs to be solved together with high level of bureaucracy that usually takes a long time especially when it comes to decision making process. In addition, lack of transparency is another serious issues which led to citizens losing faith in government and their competency. Following, citizens are left out when it comes to decision making process,although, the project dealt with public place that was commonly used by citizens for many years. This being said, it is obvious that leading government bodies have little or no interest in public necessities and its benefits. This led to the phenomenon where citizens partially or entirely lose identification with the city and the feeling of belonging to a place.

What could be a starting point for democractically-based change?

As a starting point, the idea of common good and common public spaces needs to be redefined. In addition, the inception of environmental awareness should be used to address this problem and it can be used as a starting point for new solutions. On the other side, governmental bodies should focus more on public necessities and benefits. It is essential that government focus on working transparently in order to regain the faith that citizens lost in them. Also, it is crucial that community gets involved in every phase of projects, from decision making to executing. In addition, people need to re-think the public space in terms of civic identity as well as the ownership of the public space which has roots back in old ruling system.This being said, intensive education and workshops within community combined with professional experts would show result immediately.

Stakeholder Mapping

Create a visual representation of the stakeholder groups that are involved in your case. Try to cover the following aspects in your representation: Power (high, medium, low) / Support (positive, neutral, negative)/ Influence (high or low)/ Need (strong, medium, weak)+ also map the relationships between the stakeholder groups

Stakeholder Map
Stakeholder Map
Stakeholder Analysis

Change Scenario

Look at the various methods and tools available and think how they can be applied creatively. Think about the needs of different stakeholder groups - you may need a methodical mix to address them all. Visualize a scenario illustrating how these methods/tools can be applied within an imagined time frame

Change Scenario
Mychange szenario.JPG

Change Scenario

Cross cutting theme

When it comes to cross-cutting issue between the case of the working group E, it is notable that in each case there is a lack or low involvement in the decision making process. In addition, lack of transparancy and poor communication with citizens and other stakeholers is one of the notable issue in each of the cases.It can be seen in case number 2 and case number 4, case studies coming from Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina were social and political situation shape every other aspect of life, that law and institutional frameworks are inadequate.

Concluding reflections

Picin Park in Banja Luka can be observed as a phenomenon since it was the first time that people in Bosnia Herzegovina, socially and politically struggling country, raised their voice regarding environmental issues. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped the construction process but it could be used as a starting point for making changes. The changing model that I have proposed tends to first of all comprehend and respond to this problem. It is important to mention that this solution does not reflect on Picin Park issue specifically, but provides a set of analysis and inputs for preventing such issues in future. Proposing governmental reforms and public space agenda might sound nearly impossible in politically struggling country such as BiH, but it is necessary in order for citizens to start re-thinking public space. What makes this changing model sustainable is the fact that citizens/community would be part of every step in the project and that would help them re-gain the civic identity and trust in governing structures. Proposing place making process and education can strengthen this changing scenario and it should be started from the local/municipal level. However, a major limitiation can be lack of will coming from governmental bodies and citizens´ lethargy to change it.