ABSTRACT
Multiple ethnicities gathered under a unique socialist self-management model made socialist Yugoslavia a social experiment detached from US/Western Europe and Soviet ideologies. Consequently, the Yugoslav socio-spatial construct was considered peripheral to mutually divergent parties of the West and East. Nevertheless, the Yugoslav internal turmoil was intended to overcome such a peripheral position: despite being driven by the communist political paradigm, the Yugoslav regime ostensibly inclined towards western values of pluralism and democracy. The societal ownership over the means of production and management of public enterprises by their employees, both ingrained in the logic of self-management, also fostered citizen participation in issues of public importance. Accordingly, urban planning arose as a tool for pursuing self-management socialism. Against such a background, this chapter examines planners’ positions, roles, tasks and instruments ultimately aimed at pursuing self-management socialism. While the mainstream studies merely elucidate the ideas of some of the most significant urban thinkers of the time, Yugoslav planners’ genuine contribution to participatory planning approaches remains mainly underexplored. Using the documentary content analysis (of professional articles and legal and regulatory documentation), the chapter depicts the interrelationships between dominant ideology, the nature of citizen participation and planners’ role, skills and expertise.
