Projects

«Reactivate Sarajevo»: City Action Lab Workshop held in Sarajevo

Sarajevo – The pilot «City Action Lab» workshop of the project «Reactivate Sarajevo» was successfully held during end of October 2017. The main objective was the mapping of existing potentials as well as the development of concrete project activities in the field of architecture and urban transformation - in order to increase the life quality of citizens and to foster a sustainable development of the City of Sarajevo.

Inspired by the vision “activate Sarajevo” and with the aim to map the development of innovative and successful solutions, the Workshop gathered many young professionals from the fields of urbanism, architecture, urban sociology and multimedia from BiH, Switzerland, Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, Germany and South Africa.

The participants were led by the vision that cities, like Sarajevo, nowadays represent the biggest challenge in the global society because they incorporate economic, environmental and social challenges within them. At the same time, cities provide human resources and space for creativity as the biggest opportunity for the development of sustainable and integrated solutions.

“The workshop resulted in the first interactive 3D strategic vision regarding the development of the urban zone and the wider central zone of the city. Furthermore, a pilot plan for the integral cross-linking of existing cultural, social, museum, transport and spatial infrastructure was compiled. The participants mapped the existing situation and the allocation of objects, public spaces and transport as well as symbolic locations of collective memory of citizens. They concluded that with the development of the public and cultural infrastructure the City of Sarajevo could even be more promoted as a cultural centre in the whole Region.”, said Haris Piplas, director of the project

  • Discussion with vice-mayor Mr. Trivić, Prof. Brillembourg and Haris Piplaš from ETH Zurich Urban-Think Tank

Furthermore, guest lectures and discussions of the working materials were organised with eminent representatives from the fields of culture, architecture, urbanism, entrepreneurship, governmental and non-governmental organisations. 

The workshop was held in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art Ars Aevi under the patronage of Mayor Abdulah Skaka, the Sarajevo City Administration, Ars Aevi and Matica BiH.

The Reactivate Sarajevo “City Action Lab” Workshop represents the further cooperation of ETH Zurich Urban-Think Tank, Chair for Architecture and Urban Design Prof. Brillembourg & Prof. Klumpner, the Sarajevo and Zurich City Administrations and the diaspora organisation Matica BiH from Zurich. The cooperation of the mentioned partners was strengthened by signing a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2017.

The workshop resulted in the first interactive 3D strategic vision regarding the development of the urban zone and the wider central zone of the city. Furthermore, a pilot plan for the integral cross-linking of existing cultural, social, museum, transport and spatial infrastructure was compiled. The participants mapped the existing situation and the allocation of objects, public spaces and transport as well as symbolic locations of collective memory of citizens. They concluded that with the development of the public and cultural infrastructure the City of Sarajevo could even be more promoted as a cultural centre in the whole Region.
Haris Piplaš

The Project Reactivate Sarajevo, initiated in 2015, was made possible with the support of and in cooperation with the City Administration of Sarajevo, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Embassy of Switzerland in BiH, the City of Zurich, University of Sarajevo and Belgrade, Matica BiH and many more international and local partners.

The project Reactivate Sarajevo represents a platform for the initiation of innovative ideas, technology and new energies for the development of the city. The project organised a Forum and symposium in Sarajevo and Zurich and was presented in Zurich, Graz, Belgrade and Munich and at lectures all over the world. Reactivate Sarajevo was also shown at the first appearance of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016 with the exhibition ''Sarajevo Now: People's Museum''.