Branislav Antonić, the member of the project team of the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade presented the activities and results of DANUrB+ INTERREG project as best practice in dealing with the redevelopment of middle-sized shrinking cities at a national-level meeting in Belgrade on February 10, 2022. Branislav Antonić has been involved in the preparation of a chapter in a National UNDP human development report on depopulation, covering the expertise in the urban aspects of depopulation in Serbia. The special focus in this chapter was on the current development challenges, as well as the potential and role of 24 medium-sized cities in Serbia for the balanced territorial development of the country as a critical factor for depopulation at regional and national levels.

The meeting was jointly organized by the UNDP Office in Serbia and the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, with the special support of the Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia. The workshop was about the presentation of the report material and the consultations of UNDP experts and representatives with Serbian ministries, foreign missions in Serbia, bigger NGOs, national institutes and universities, and distinguished local representatives. The meeting started with an open speech by Marija Milić, State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Francine Pickup, UNDP Resident Representative in Serbia, and Ivan Brkljač, representative of the Office of Prime Minister. The meeting was moderated by Dr. Danilo Vuković, the Editor of the UNDP Report. The meeting was one of several meetings related to different aspects of depopulation topic. The full name of the workshop was “Population Dynamics, Urban Development and Environment Protection”.

Branislav Antonić was the main presenter and moderator of the first session, dedicated for the urban aspects of the depopulation in Serbia. He first introduced the main elements of the report chapter, with special emphasis on the research structure, key findings, and policy recommendations. After the presentation, there was an active discussion between participants, during which DANUrB+ INTERREG and CREATIVE DANUBE Erasmus+ projects’ best practice was mentioned. The second session was dedicated to the chapter of the influence of environment protection on depopulation in Serbia, chaired by expert Dr. Jelisaveta Petrović. After this session, concluding remarks were given by the main moderator, Dr. Danilo Vuković. The discussion material will be used to revise both chapters of the report in the final phase of its edition.

Due to the nature of the meeting and the first session – urban depopulation and shrinkage – several representatives of analysed medium-sized cities were invited to the meeting. Two of them were DANUrB+ ASP representatives and urban experts from Smederevo and Sombor, Vladislava Živanović Ristović and Dragana Siljanović Kozoderović. Aside of them, the representatives of the cities of Šabac and Čačak and representative of the Serbian Town Planner Associations participated. All invited urban experts were active in all conducted discussions, pointing local constraints to manage urban (re)development.

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Project co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF and IPA).