"Activating the Potential of Open Public Space for Improving the Quality of Life in Kotor" is the name of a new project whose implementation was started by the NGO Center for Sustainable Spatial Development Expeditio from Kotor. The project is supported through the ReLOaD program funded by the European Union, and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Montenegro.
The project carried out by NGO Expeditio is based on their two-decades of dealing with issues of public space, which, due to numerous factors, and above all the construction boom that is underway, narrows and transforms, which has a very bad impact on the quality of life in Kotor. At the same time, numerous public spaces remain unused.
"The development and functioning of the city are left to the development of the space that neglects the potential of so-called "urban pockets”, which are often completely unused and neglected instead of places that raise the quality of space and offer additional content to gravitating people. Failure to recognize the potential of these spaces for the quality of everyday life of citizens is something we want to change with this project. Also, these spaces are not treated through an integral approach, seeing them as a whole that offers many unused opportunities to enrich the contents of the city. We also stress the problem of the lack of knowledge of the true values of public space both by decision-makers and the wider public, because we often testify that ignorance leads to permanent disappearance of space. Such a kind of ignorance often leads to situations where the consequences of bad activity are often observed when it is too late for devastation to be prevented. This kind of situation has led to the danger of being removed from the UNESCO list," explains Tatjana Rajic from NVO Expeditio.
The project is significant because it represents the beginning of looking at the potential of public space, but not from the aspect of opportunities for sale or construction, but from the aspect of publicizing the daily life of citizens in Kotor through the arrangement of the surrounding space. "The end goal of the project is Kotor - a sustainable city, with large and well-kept open-air public spaces, recreation, rest and all other open-air activities," Expeditio says, explaining that the project will create a map of the best public space and space with the greatest potential for advancing life in the city if their revitalization is done. They will also give clear recommendations of the next steps to make this arrangement really happen.
Expeditio explains that one of the specific objectives of the project - educating citizens on the significance and potential of public space in Kotor - will be realized through expert workshops of local architects, as well as continuous advertising on social networks of all project activities and conclusions resulting from their realization. The goal is that after the realization of the project, at least 30% of Kotor citizens will be educated about the strengths and potentials of public spaces in that city.
Project realization lasts 9 months. Apart from Kotor, the RELOaD program in Montenegro is being implemented in partnership with the municipalities of Tivat, Nikšić, Pljevlja and Podgorica.
