Post-socialist discourse of urban megaproject development: From City on the Water to Belgrade Waterfront

As many as twenty years after the overthrow of its authoritarian political regime, Serbia remains a ‘proto-democracy’, supported by economic ideology wild neoliberalism. Under such circumstances, urban development is subject to various abuses, misapplication legal procedures, neglect public interest, and politicisation planning. In particular, megaprojects exhibit distortions, they require special regulations, additional funding, long-term timeframes, ad hoc actor-networks. Against that background, this paper examines main ideological landscapes behind Belgrade waterfront regeneration, illustrated two projects – City on Water Waterfront. By collecting 65 articles from daily press, we identify relevant stakeholders present their statements depict positions, viewpoints, interests, specific value frameworks. The research directed towards 1) recognition conflicts coalitions, 2) elucidation decision-making patterns, 3) identification power structures in these projects. Finally, comparing key findings each case helps understand transformation narratives effect governance.