The Production of Space during the Period of Autonomy: Notes on Belgrade Urban Space, 1817–67

Abstract:

The nascent Serbian state and processes of de-Ottomanization should not be seen as the sole determinants of the development of urban space in Belgrade in the 19th century.

Using Lefebvre’s conceptual categories, this paper argues that both Ottoman and Serbian authorities waged a struggle over the city through the creation of dominated and symbolic spaces, and the capital with its abstract spaces left its mark on the city. Moreover, the Christian, Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of the city contributed to the production of space by their everyday activities. Serbian autonomy was the particular framework in which the everyday life in the city, an emerging nation-state, the reforming Ottoman polity, merchant capital, imperialism and military exigency came together to produce Belgrade’s space.