The controversy surrounding the planned high-rise residential building on the Gorica hill - also a natural monument from a few days ago - is inseparable, if you ask me, from the controversy regarding the construction in Stara Varoš - in the scope of the ugly planning document entitled UP "Stara Varoš - Part of Zone A" - and from some earlier controversies, such as the dug and immediately buried foundation pit for an unsuspecting multi-storey residential building in the scope of the ugly (to say the least) planning document entitled DUP "Zabjelo - Ljubović", Amendments and Supplements, which has meanwhile been officially suspended - and residential slats (three slats - each with eight floors above ground) that are being illegally built under Ljubović, within the scope of the same, suspended planning document.
The story about the planned construction on Gorica hill is just one of the episodes of a painful series whose dramatic axis is the fact that the current Administration of the Capital City is simply not ready - never, in any case - to assume (the lion's share) of responsibility in the matter of taking action in the scope of planning documents which was adopted by the Assembly of the GGPG - during the mandate of the current mayor (UP "Stara varoš - part of zone A" was passed at the end of 2018, and DUP "Nova varoš 2" was passed in mid-September of the same year).
The Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism - complete with the (new) minister and the (old) chief state architect - and in the context of the planned construction on Gorica hill - I'd better not mention...
The star of the latter controversy is none other than li Miljan Barovic, an unreal character who appears in the role of secretary of the Secretariat for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development - one of the organs of the GG Administration. At the time when the construction of high-rise buildings in Stara Varoš was current, within the scope of the aforementioned UP "Stara Varoš - part of zone A" - of which, by the way, three are being built on a large scale - Miljan Barović repeatedly publicly referred to some (invalid) planning document from 2004 - it's not hard to guess why - and he persistently avoided the fact that Filip Aleksic - the oldest friend of Mayor Vuković, and at the same time the chief PG architect - signed all decisions on consent to the conceptual solutions of the future Stara Varoš multi-storey buildings (except maybe one, which was signed by GDA - and which I can't dig up) - referring to UP "Stara Varoš - part of zone A", which, I will repeat, was adopted at the end of 2018 - during the mandate of the current mayor.
Following established practice, Barović first stated - conditional reflex - that GGPG is not responsible for planning construction in Gorica - again, it is a multi-story building, of course, five or six floors above ground - and then, without hesitation, he joined the protest against the urbanization of Gorica and announced construction of a multi-storey residential building.
That Barović raised his voice on September 12, 2018, the day when the GGPG Assembly passed the Decision on the adoption of the Detailed Urban Plan "Nova varoš 2" in Podgorica - which was a prerequisite for the GDA to sign the Decision on September 6 of last year conceptual design of a multi-storey residential building on the hill of Gorica - on UP no. 8, in the scope of the mentioned DUP "Nova varoš 2" - we would sing other songs today...
But about all that in detail in the following issues, when the painful impressions are collected and settled...
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I almost missed the fact that at the beginning of April of the current year, dr Ivan Vuković, the mayor of the capital city of Podgorica, was given the extraordinary honor of speaking, as he says (Ivan Vuković - Official Facebook page of Dr. Ivan Vuković) "in front of dozens of mayors from all over the world on the topic of sustainable urban planning in Podgorica" - and that, he says, "at Palais des Nations”.
The Palace of Nations (or Peoples) in Geneva is also the office of the European branch of the United Nations (United Nations Office at Geneva). It was built in the period from 1929 to 1936 - as a League of Nations building - according to the project of a five-member team of architects - headed by a French architect Henri Paul Neno (Henri Paul Nénot).
The laying of the foundation stone for the League of Nations building was preceded by one of the most iconic and controversial architectural competitions in the turbulent past century. The competition was announced in 1926 - 377 works were received from 55 countries that were members of the League of Nations at that time - and the nine-member Jury failed to choose the winning work.
After a whole series of the most incredible compromises, a building was erected which, in the opinion of the avant-garde architects of the time (the so-called modernists) - did not maintain the spirit of the League of Nations - which will coincide, on a historical level, with the inability of that organization to fulfill its primary task - which would could, in short, be reduced to a catchphrase: preserve peace in the world - and that by mediating the resolution of burning interstate issues through negotiations - in order to prevent any possible escalation - with the primary emphasis, of course - on armed conflicts.
Therefore, the Forum of Mayors is a platform for constant, he says, "exchange and mutual education, where mayors present their achievements in facing the challenges in their cities. Cities will learn from each other about best practices in the areas of housing and climate-neutral buildings, about green cities, solutions based on awareness of nature, sustainable urban transport and safer roads, and about solutions that fall into the domains the so-called smart urban development".
The second Forum of Mayors was held on April 4 and 5 in Geneva in Hall XVII of the Palace of Nations. As part of the "Sustainable urban planning" panel, our mayor Vuković presented "implemented activities and plans", the goal of which was "to adapt Podgorica and its infrastructure to the needs of citizens, as well as to create a better environment for life".
The gathered mayors had the opportunity to hear (pogorica.me) from Mr. Vuković that "Podgorica is the fifth city in Europe in terms of the percentage of urban green areas, according to the assessment of the European Environmental Protection Agency, and that it is one of the cities in Europe with the largest coverage with modern LED public lighting".
Beautiful...
In that behalf, I join the appeals Predrag Tomović (Eyes of Podgorica) that our mayor, to begin with, make sure that the residents of Slovacka street (courtyard part) finally get public lighting - which has been out of order for more than a year - and to check, along the way, whether similar problems occur in other parts of his (and our ) of the capital city.
Looks like I shot for today and didn't get to the point...
The point in the next issue...
Bonus video:
