Geopolitical and urban changes in Sarajevo (1995 – 2015) Jordi Martín i Díaz Aquesta tesi doctoral està subjecta a la llicència Reconeixement- NoComercial – SenseObraDerivada 3.0. Espanya de Creative Commons. Esta tesis doctoral está sujeta a la licencia Reconocimiento - NoComercial – SinObraDerivada 3.0. España de Creative Commons. This doctoral thesis is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0. Spain License. Facultat de Geografia i Història Departament de Geografia Programa de Doctorat “Geografia, planificació territorial i gestió ambiental” Tesi doctoral Geopolitical and urban changes in Sarajevo (1995 – 2015) del candidat a optar al Títol de Doctor en Geografia, Planificació Territorial i Gestió Ambiental Jordi Martín i Díaz Directors Dr. Carles Carreras i Verdaguer Dr. Nihad Čengi ć Tutor Dr. Carles Carreras i Verdaguer Barcelona, 2017 This dissertation has been funded by the Program Formación del Profesorado Universitario of the Spanish Ministry of Education, fellowship reference (AP2010- 3873). Als meus pares i al meu germà. Table of contents Aknowledgments Abstract About this project 1. Theoretical and conceptual approach 15 Socialist and post-socialist cities 19 The question of ethno-territorialities 26 Regarding international intervention in post-war contexts 30 Methodological approach 37 Information gathering and techniques 40 Structure of the dissertation 44 2. The destruction and division of Sarajevo 45 Sarajevo: common life and urban expansion until early 1990s 45 The urban expansion 48 The emergence of political pluralism 55 Towards the ethnic division of Sarajevo: SDS’s ethno-territorialisation campaign and the international partiality in the crisis 63 The Western policy towards Yugoslavia: paving the way for the violent ethnic division of Bosnia 73 The siege of Sarajevo 77 Deprivation, physical destruction and displacement 82 The international response to the siege 85 SDA performance 88 Sarajevo’s ethno-territorial division in the Dayton Peace Agreement 92 The DPA and the OHR’s mission 95 3. The consolidation of an ethno-territorialised urban area of Sarajevo after the peace agreement 101 The transfer of authority of the Serb-held districts of Sarajevo 101 The Rome meeting and the transfer of authority in the Serb- held districts 110 The reallocation of Bosnian Serbs in Republika Srpska 116 SDA ethnocratic practices to consolidate domination over Sarajevo during early post-war stages 118 Further ethnic engineering: the reallocation of internally displaced persons to Sarajevo 121 The post-war institutional reorganisation of Sarajevo 125 OHR’s response to SDA ethnocratic practices 128 SDS project to build an ethnically exclusive Srpsko Sarajevo 133 OHR’s response to land allocations in socially-owned land 138 4. The international strategy to rebuild ethnic diversity in Sarajevo 143 International approach to minority returns before High Representative’s empowerment 143 Early returns to Sarajevo 152 The empowerment of the High Representative 154 The adoption of the Sarajevo Declaration in 1998 156 The implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration: between local obstructionism and the shortcomings of the international strategy 159 Difficulties to implement the Sarajevo Declaration 165 Further shortcomings of the international intervention: the Sub- Group on Textbook 168 International economic sanctions to pressure for the implementation 170 International increasing pressure, progresses in the repossession of housing 172 The limited impact of the Sarajevo Declaration on the reconstruction of ethnic diversity 176 5. The international intervention for the political and economic liberalisation 181 First post-war elections: the consolidation of ethnocratic regimes 181 International intervention following initial post-war elections 190 The economic liberalisation policies internationally imposed 195 The process of privatization of companies in Bosnia 203 The privatisation of companies in Sarajevo 209 The privatisation of Holiday Inn and Sarajka 213 6. The current ethnic and spatial configuration of the urban area of Sarajevo 219 Reconstruction and urban restructuring 219 Towards the post-socialist city 224 The post-socialist urban spatial restructuring 227 Urbanisation on the slopes surrounding the central urban area of Sarajevo 240 Suburbanisation and development of gated communities 244 The evolution of the division between Sarajevo and East Sarajevo 248 From physical border to boundary: spatial practices across the IEBL 253 Visions on the division of the urban area of Sarajevo 258 Common life in post-war Sarajevo 261 Conclusion 267 References 285 Acknowledgements Many people have participated in this dissertation over the last few years. I started my MA in 2009 with my passion for climatology and hydrology still intact and dominating my daily life but the city of Sarajevo took me away from that path. This was a particularly challenging project for me, impossible to carry out alone, from both a professional and personal perspective. I’ve grown a lot during this research so I must give many thanks to everyone who has been part of this tough but exciting journey. For their impact in this project and overall in the scientific and professional development, I thank my directors Professor Carles Carreras i Verdaguer and Professor Nihad Čengi ć. Moltes gràcies Carles per haver-me obert les portes fa deu anys i haver- me encoratjat a continuar. Nihad, I really appreciate your effort and rigour. I feel that proposing you to be my co-director has been one of my best decisions in the last five years. I sincerely thank Prof. Gerard Toal for his orientation and advice during my research stay at Virginia Tech. It was very helpful in a crucial moment for the dissertation. Many people shared knowledge, contacts and experiences, often about delicate topics. Special thanks to Fermin Cordoba, Mirza Hajric, Sead Turcalo, Adis Maksic, Valerie Hopkins, Valery Perry, Almir Kasumagic, Ljiljana Sulentic, Mladen Klemencic, Philippe Leroux-Martin, and Manel Vila. Many thanks to Sasa and Jelena Golijanin for your kindness and help when needed. Also, thanks to everyone who accepted interviews. To the staff of the Department of Geography at the University of Barcelona and at the Planning Chair of the University of Sarajevo, who made me feel very comfortable at the Faculty of Architecture. Special thanks to Meritxell Gisbert, Núria Font and Prof. Xavi Úbeda. To people in the Centro de Estudios Hispánicos and the Spanish Embassy in BiH. A la meva estimada mare, incansable lluitadora i campiona!! Al meu pare i al meu germà per l’estima, paciència i ajuda! A la meva família, menció especial per al meu cosí Àngel, importantíssim el teu suport en el sempre tan exigent tram final, i també als teus pares, moltíssimes gràcies tieta i padrí. Als meus amics per tot el que hem compartit: en primer lloc a en Jordi Nofre, per tantíssimes coses, i també a en Marc Oliva. También a Isidro, Gonzalo, Raúl, Isabel, Laura, Irena y José Carlos. A tot l’escamot mataroní, rebatejat només per aquesta ocasió: Arnau, Isaac, Lluís i Irene, Veci i Belén, Yapa i Laura, Edu i Marta; haver-me hagut de suportar entre una i dues dècades té molt més mèrit que un doctorat. Finalment a dues persones ben especials, en Marc i la Vane, ha estat un veritable plaer trobar-vos a la nostra estimada ciutat i haver sentit tot el vostre afecte. Needless to say, any flaw in this dissertation is my sole responsibility. Abstract During the collapse of Socialist Yugoslavia and amid a concomitant process to ethnically divide Bosnia, Sarajevo suffered through a siege which after three-and-a-half years resulted in a completely new social, political and territorial order. Following the signing of the peace agreement in Paris in December 1995, to end the war in Bosnia, the city simultaneously experienced a transition from war to peace and from socialism to capitalism. This double transition was marked by increasing intervention from the international community, who deployed an administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement. Despite the fact that no specific local peace-building mission was established in Sarajevo, the Office of the High Representative (OHR), in charge of supervising the civilian annexes of the agreement, became particularly involved in the supervision, coordination and even execution of several key processes shaping its urban transformation, in areas such as the management of land, economic transition and the reconstruction of Sarajevo’s intrinsic ethnic diversity. Thus, this dissertation analyses the role of the OHR in the urban transformation of the symbolic Bosnian capital during the post-war period with an ultimate focus on the impact of those policies, developed mostly between 1995 and 2003, in the current ethnic and spatial configuration of the city. 1. Theoretical and conceptual approach This dissertation analyses the urban transformation of Sarajevo and considers both the role and the impact of international intervention in its spatial and ethnic configuration from the end of the war in late 1995. A focus on Sarajevo is worthwhile, undoubtedly, it is not of any minor insignificance in urban studies, as the city has long held a symbolic significance in European history for crucial continental events that occurred in the twentieth century but also for having a long tradition of ethnic diversity and coexistence throughout its history. Sarajevo is actually unique, in the sense that common life