Ranko Radović’s approach to the planning and design of public spaces through projects for cities in Finland and Serbia

Abstract

Ranko Radović (1935-2005) was one of Serbia’s most notable architects, urbanists, and professors, with a prominent influence on European scholarly discussions on planning urban centers and public spaces, which have come to light not only through his research design proposals but also through numerous publications, seminars, conferences and lecture notes. The importance of Radović lies in his profound and early understanding of urban issues that became common across Europe in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He focused on the composition, ideologies, traditionality and innovation of cities, while striving to create paradigmatic shifts in urban design with the parallel retainment of strong cultures. Radović, strongly influenced by his European experiences, created urban schemes based on his strong ideals that were a product of deep urban perception and collective criticism deriving from his experiential research. As a result, this paper seeks to show and discuss how his time and practice in Finland, and particularly his research designs for the areas of Herttoniemi and Vuosaari in Helsinki (1995-1996), shaped how he perceived the concepts of urban spatial identification, geometry, and historicity, and how these elaborations evolved through his urban planning and design schemes in Serbia’s northern province of Vojvodina (1997-2000).

Keywords

• ranko radović
• urban planning and design
• public spaces
• historic centers