Managing Public Spaces at the Neighborhood Level through Greater Citizen Engagement

In 2012, Analitika is working on the research project “Fixing Broken Windows: Managing Public Spaces at the Neighborhood Level through Greater Citizen Engagement”.

The long-term, strategic goal of the project is to support the adoption of sound solutions for the improvement of the quality of services and overally quality of life with respect to public spaces of urban communities, or neighborhoods. 

The project aims to identify the reasons for rapid decay of public spaces in urban neighborhoods in BiH, researching some of the factors that can be assumed to contribute to neighborhood management and that pertain to the division of competences and responsibilities with respect to the provision of the most important public services on one hand and the management of private housing on the other; the quality of the services provided;  to specific urban policies in this area; to institutional forms and arenas for neighborhood governance (including local communities / mjesna zajednicas); to the links between citizens and municipal, town and cantonal authorities; as well as to social capital and citizen initiative at the neighborhood level.

The project will also investigate comparative practices in the area of neighborhood governance in other European countries, as well as standards and recommendations in this area, including those of the Council of Europe.

As part of this project, empirical research will be done in select neighborhoods in Sarajevo, as well as the analysis of the relevant legal framework and procedures. The results of this projects will be a policy study and brief, as well as a public debate on the research results and recommendations that stem from the research.

This research project is financially supported by the Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina.