The accelerated transformation of the urban landscape of Sarajevo Canton increasingly becomes a space of contention among various interest groups - citizens, planners, investors, heritage disciplines, and local authorities. Establishing a model that involves respecting the interests of each of these groups or increasing the level of inclusivity in the decision-making process will lead to humane and sustainable solutions for the future use and visual shaping of public spaces. Unlike other design disciplines, the specificity of designing public spaces lies in the imperative of participation, mediation, and balancing the interests of multiple actors, ranging from the public and private sectors to planners, designers, researchers, and citizens. Local governments in the municipalities of Sarajevo Canton and other Bosnian Herzegovinian (B&H) cities have still not adopted participatory approach to urban planning. This paper explains research project that tests but also proposes a methodological approach in the public space planning strategy (with emphasis on integrating culture and shift of educational approach) as a critical response to the mismatch between the existing institutional approach of "top-down" planning with the technological and social dynamics of the digital age, as well as the real needs of the local community. This approach promises a more inclusive, sustainable, and community-driven future for public space planning. Case study: Cultural district Sarajevo (the space between the future Ars Aevi Museum, the Historical Museum of B&H, and the National Museum of B&H) and "urban voids" of Grbavica1.

Architecture embodies the social context from which it emerges. In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, architects and planners have played a pivotal role in translating the ideals and values of political systems into physical space. The socialist programs of “brotherhood and unity” and “worker self-management” were articulated in various public architectural typologies, open and accessible to all, and shaped a new social framework. Less emphasized but equally present is the historical continuity of self-organizing architecture, representing the shared goal of population survival and adaptability to forthcoming changes. In the aftermath of the 1990s war, Bosnia and Herzegovina is undergoing a multifaceted transition: from socialism to capitalism, from conflict to peace, from post-war recovery toward sustainable development and democratic governance. More than 30 years later, this radical paradigm shift has significantly impacted the urban landscape of Sarajevo, affecting both new developments and the approach to the urban legacy of previous epochs. By correlating the socio-spatial factors of transition, this article explores the post-socialist residential neighborhoods of Novo Sarajevo that were once divided by the frontline during the siege of Sarajevo, particularly their current status and the potential for the transformation of the remaining indoor and outdoor social spaces. The model employed for redefining social spaces in vulnerable areas emphasizes user participation, and was tested through an academic research project to address collective issues. This research has shown the role of the participatory approach as an instrument for the reinvention of existing, even contested, social assets to create an inclusive, sustainable urban environment in post-conflict conditions. The approach may be able to heal the remnants of the collapsed system, its neglected legacy, and the damaged urban and social structures.

The specificity of architectural activity in the process of creation lies in its abstraction of reality. Architects, who often do not know the context within which they operate, define goals, problems and tools based on professional analytical methods. The traditional educational system emphasizes the role of the expert as a “conductor” who controls the outcome with a drawing. At the same time, authorship and creativity enable the designer (company or project client) to determine how the newly built context functions, its appearance, and the way it is used by the end users. An even more common phenomenon is intuitive spatial activity, where due to the pressure of modern parameters of time and money, decisions are made based on the unconscious process of creation. The results are responses to fragments of reality or reckless actions on existing complex spatial relationships. During the entire process of creating a new reality, experts – who are members of the system and the macro-social level, act on the micro-social level and implement the values of the system. Ultra-subjective alienation from reality and the manipulative practice of narrative design solutions serve individuals instead of common interests. What are the possibilities of resisting the ideological construction of the new reality? If we want to improve the existing context with architecture, we should solve contradictions through spatial activity instead of hiding them ideologically. By including the subjective and objective realities of the context within which the architect operates, the possibility of strengthening the user and the community is realized. It is necessary to include reality in the creative process, in the way of their mutual interweaving instead of differentiating. It should not be the final stage of the process, but a parallel part of its initiation, development and completion.