Profit-Driven Urbanism and the Hidden Cost of Traffic Congestion

Eight years ago, the newly elected city government started the Belgrade waterfront project, as a flagship of their election campaign. New development in the center of Belgrade was a demonstration of prosperity, with skyscrapers, glass, asphalt and concrete. Yet the price to be paid for such projects all over the city is huge, including by way of traffic congestion and pollution. Unfortunately, ruling party voters who admire the new segregated city for the rich cannot see its hidden cost and attendant poverty in the poor neighborhoods that are left without a sewer system. Changes in transportation planning needed to be implemented, and for the first time in fifty years the newly planned subway lines changed their routes as well.