THE IMPORTANCE OF APPLICATION OF URBAN ECOLOGY PRINCIPLES TO URBAN REGENERATION OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACES – PARKS OF NOVI GRAD IN PODGORICA

The rapid growth of modern urban environments is accompanied by degradation processes causing the need and application of urban ecology principles in urban regeneration of public open spaces. The public open spaces of functionalist residential areas built in the second half of 20th century nowadays represent the inherited spaces shaped over the decades of their use, often without specific purpose, and characterized by buildings and urban complexes built according to the standards of the time, different socio-economic, technical and technological conditions, but with the continuity of green open spaces organized as parks or linear green areas that still represent a special quality of these parts of the city. Learning about the role and importance of park areas on a concrete example of Novi Grad in Podgorica, as well as about the role of the city in creating its identity, importance and experience for urban parks users, then the principles of urban ecology, along with the application of the ecological planning models provide further strategic guidelines for urban regeneration which can be incorporated in the planning documents and thus improve the relationship between the built environment and landscapes, all in order to create environmentally sustainable and self-sustaining space within the urban tissue.