Sarajevo - A city profile

Murat Gül*, John Dee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper profiles Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital, Sarajevo from its Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslav past to the impact of the 1992-95 War and the contemporary city of today. The country and city have received large amounts of aid from various sources such as the European Union, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Major social, economic and political issues still remain. While Sarajevo's urban morphology is a product of its past, significant change has occurred as the result of shopping centre development that has spread commercial activities away from the older city centre. In addition, new urban settlements have occurred in the surrounding hills with concomitant environmental problems. The public tramway system, however, remains the principal structuring device of the urban form where development still follows a linear pattern along the valley connecting Sarajevo and Ilidža. This transport and land use pattern must be reinforced with long-term capital investment. The ethnic divide between the Federation and Republic is a formidable obstacle. Finally accession to the European Union may in the end render this artificial boundary irrelevant.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)152-166
Number of pages15
JournalCities
Volume43
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Funding

Other significant investments are the partial upgrade of the inner city tramlines financed by the Sarajevo Canton Government in 2013 and the private university sector at Ilidža. Sarajevo’s tramway system is critical to the city’s transport efficiency. It is one of the oldest in Europe and still forms the backbone of the public transport system. But further investment is urgently needed to upgrade rolling stock and develop a multi-modal integrated transport system. The private universities are the American University, the International University of Sarajevo, International Burch University and Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. Apart from the American University that is located in the city, the other three universities are in Ilidža. The private universities have created a substantial education sector providing for local and foreign students and contributing to the city’s cultural diversity and economy.

FundersFunder number
Sarajevo Canton Government in 2013

    Keywords

    • Architecture
    • Bosnia and Herzegovina
    • Post-war urban planning
    • Sarajevo

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