Climate Corridors Sarajevo: Shaping water into public places of inclusion

Abstract

Sarajevo´s culture is as diverse as its rich architecture and history of urbanization. Located on the Balkan Route, a crossroads between north and south, east and west, the city confronts us with one of the highest pollution levels of air, soil water, of any capital city in Europe. The watershed of the Miljacka River, wells, fountains, retention infrastructures, and flood plains are our point of departure. They have the potential to unlock socio-ecological systems, multifunctional corridors, and catalytic projects, that can transform fragmented neighborhoods, offering a living system of public water-places to the inhabitants. At the intersection of architecture, landscape, and public art, the studio envisions trans-scalar processes and interventions, addressing the cities social and ecological crisis, in support of the Sarajevo Cantonal Planning Office, applying a systemic design methodology, and responding to the urgent need for concrete projects and Climate Action. Policy recommendations and general advice for upscaling such prototypical concepts are already successful in other cities globally and apply to the Sarajevo-Case.