Credibility of legalization: Illegally constructed buildings in Serbia
Abstract
The paper analyses the credibility of the legalization policies regarding illegally constructed buildings (ICBs) in Serbia in the socialist and post-socialist periods. It introduces the conceptual framework of the credibility thesis concerning informal institutions in an empirical examination of the credibility of legalization policy measures in Serbia. The analysis identifies the main causes of vast illegal construction, and the types and credibility of planning measures and legalization policies, using the Credibility thesis as a breakthrough in planning practice. The findings show the failure of planning and the non-credibility of legalization policies, as well as the survival of ICBs as an autonomous form of property rights.
References
Avakumović, M. (2018). Pet miliona nelegalnih objekata u Srbiji. Politika, (in Serbian) [online]. https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/410747/Ekonomija/Pet-miliona-nelegalnih-objekata [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
Banister, J., Boyce, G., Slack, J. (2015). Illicit economies and state(less) geographies – the politics of illegality, Territory, Politics, Governance, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 365-368. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2015.1064251
Barzel, Y. (2000). Property rights and the evolution of the state, Economics of Governance, No. 1, pp. 25-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s101010050004
Boettke, P. J., Candela, R. (2019). Productive Specialization, Peaceful Cooperation, and the Problem of the Predatory State: Lessons From Comparative Historical Political Economy (January 31, 2019). GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 19-10, Public Choice, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3326822 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3326822
Bromley, D.W. (2009). Formalising property relations in the developing world: The wrong prescription for the wrong malady, Land Use Policy, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.02.003
Chang, H. J. (2007). Institutional change and economic development. United Nations University press. Tokyo, New York, Paris: United Nations University Press, London, New York, Delhi: Anthem Press.
Davis, J. B. (2006). The nature of heterodox economics, Post-autistic Economic Review, Vol. 40, pp. 2-30. https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1389&context=econ_fac
Davy, B. (2018). After form. The credibility thesis meets property theory, Land Use Policy, Vol. 79, pp. 854-862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.02.036
De Biase, C., Losco, S. (2017). Upgrading illegal building settlements: An urban planning methodology, Procedia Environmental Sciences, Vol. 37, pp. 454-465.
Dollimore, D., Hodgson, G. (2014). Four essays on economic evolution: An introduction. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol. 24, No.1, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-013-0315-7
Gabriel, B. (2007). Informal settlements in SEE – A regional support approach Spatial Information Management toward Legalizing Informal Urban Development, Informal Settlements – Real Estate Markets Needs Related to Good Land Administration and Planning, FIG Commission 3 Workshop. Athens, Greece, March 28-31, 2007.
Grabel, I. (2000). The political economy of ‘policy credibility’: The new-classical macroeconomics and the remaking of emerging economies, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/24.1.1
Grubovic, Lj. (2006). Belgrade in transition: An analysis of illegal building in a post-socialist city (Doctoral dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK). https://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1883/1/U213438.pdf [Accessed: 09 Mar 2022].
Helmke, G., Levitsky, S. (2004). Informal institutions and comparative politics: A research agenda, Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 725–740. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592704040472
Ho, P. (2014). The ‘credibility thesis’ and its application to property rights: (In)secure land tenure, conflict and social welfare in China, Land Use Policy, Vol. 40, pp. 13–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.09.019
Ho, P. (2016). An endogenous theory of property rights: Opening the black box of institutions. The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 43, No. 6, pp. 1121-1144. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1253560
Ho, P. (2017). Who owns China's housing? Endogeneity as a lens to understand ambiguities of urban and rural property, Cities, Vol. 65, pp. 66-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.02.004
Ho, P. (2020). The credibility of (in)formality: Or, the irrelevance of institutional form in judging performance, Cities, Vol. 99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102609
Hodgson, G. M. (2006). What are institutions?, Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 40, No.1, pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2006.11506879
Hodgson, G. M. (2015). Much of the “economics of property rights” devalues property and legal rights, Journal of Institutional Economics, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 683-709.
Iban, M. C. (2020). Lessons from approaches to informal housing and non-compliant development in Turkey: An in-depth policy analysis with a historical framework, Land Use Policy, No. 99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105104
Jovanović Popović M., Ignjatović, D., Radivojević, A., Rajčić, A., Đukanović, Lj., Ćuković Ignjatović, N., Nedić, M. (2013). National typology of residential buildings in Serbia. Belgrade: Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, and GIZ/Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
Komesarijat za izbeglice (2020). Statistički pregled izbeglica, ratom ugroženih lica i interno raseljenih lica prema popisima izbeglica iz 1996. i 2001. godine [online]. https://kirs.gov.rs/media/uploads/Statistical_Overview_of_Refugees.pdf [Accessed: 10 May 2022].
Lazic, M., Cvejic, S. (2007). Class and values in post-socialist transformation in Serbia, International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 54-74. https://doi.org/10.2753/IJS0020-7659370303
Leeson, P. T. (2014). Anarchy unbound: Why self-governance works better than you think. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Liebowitz, S., J., Margolis, S., E. (1999). Path dependence, pp. 981-998. https://reference.findlaw.com/lawandeconomics/0770-path-dependence.pdf
Lindvall, J., Teorell, J. (2017). State capacity as power: A conceptual framework. Lund: Lund University Publications. https://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/files/pegroup/files/lindvall
teorell2017_updated.pdf [Accessed: 24 Dec 2022].
Manzotti, L. (2009). Belgrade's urban wilderness. Osservatorio Balcani caucaso [online]. https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Serbia/Belgrade-s-urban-wilderness-46186 [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
March, J. G., Olsen, J. P. (1984). The new institutionalism: Organizational factors in political life, American Political Science Review, No. 78, pp. 734-749. https://doi.org/10.2307/1961840
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2017). Illegal [online]. https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/illegal [Accessed: 05 Mar 2021].
Milić, V., Petovar, K., Čolić, R. (2004). National perspective on informal settlements. Ministerial conference on informal settlements in SEE, Vienna, 28 September-1 October 2004.
Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture (MGSI) (2017). Baza nezakonito izgrađenih objekata [online]. http://www.mgsi.gov.rs/cir/dokumenti/baza-nezakonito-izgradjenih-objekata [Accessed: 15 Jun 2019].
Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture (MGSI) (2020). Nacionalna stambena strategija 2020-2030. [online]. https://www.mgsi.gov.rs/sites/default/files/Nacionalna%20stambena%20strategija_NACRT_0.pdf [Accessed: 23 May 2022].
Mitrović B., Antonić B. (2013). The taming of the shrew: Coping with illegal settlements in Belgrade, Serbia. In M. Schrenk, V. Popovich, P. Zeile, P. Elisei (Eds.), Proceedings REAL CORP 2013. Rome: Competence Center of Urban and Regional Planning, pp. 985-994.
Mojović, Đ., Ferenčak, M. (2011). Challenges of regularization of informal settlements in South East Europe: Overview of the relevant urban planning and legalization laws and practice. Belgrade: Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe.
Murtazashvili, I., Murtazashvili, J. (2015). Anarchy, self-governance, and legal titling, Public Choice, Vol. 162, No. 3/4, pp. 287-305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-014-0222-y
Murtazashvili, I. (2022). Property rights rule: comments on Bart Wilson’s ‘The primacy of property; Or, the subordination of property rights’, Journal of Institutional Economics, Vol. 19, Issue 2, pp. 280 - 284. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137422000352
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
North, D. C. (1991). Institutions, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 97-112.
Oxford English Dictionary (2017). Illegal. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pajović, D. (2006). Urbanistički zakoni južnoslovenskih zemalja - Bosna i Hercegovina, Crna Gora, Hrvatska, Makedonija, Slovenija, Srbija. Novi Sad: Zavod za urbanizam.
Petovar, K. (1992). Illegal construction and grey economy - one parallel, Sociologija, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 525-538.
Petovar, K. (2003). Naši gradovi između države i građanina (in Serbian). Beograd: Cicero.
Piano, E. E. (2019). State capacity and public choice: a critical survey, Public Choice, Vol.178, No.1-2, pp.289-309.
Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i stanova u Republici Srbiji 2011 (2011). Uporedni pregled broja stanovnika 1948-2011. Beograd: Republički zavod za statistiku [online]. https://www.stat.gov.rs/sr-Latn/oblasti/popis/popis-2011/popisni-podaci-eksel-tabele [Accessed: 01 Apr 2022].
Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i stanova u Republici Srbiji 2022 (2022). Prvi rezultati Popisa. Beograd: Republički zavod za statistiku [online]. https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/en-US/ [Accessed: 01 Mar 2023].
Salter, A. W. (2015). Sovereignty as exchange of political property rights, Public Choice, Vol. 165, No.1, pp. 79-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-015-0293-4
Saveljić, B. (1988). Beogradska favela: nastanak i razvoj Kaluđerice kao posledica bespravne stambene izgradnje u Beogradu. Beograd: Kultura.
Službeni glasnik RS (16/1997). Zakon o posebnim uslovima za izdavanje građevinske, odnosno upotrebne dozvole za određene objekte (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 43/2001). Zakon o izgradnji objekata (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 47/2003). Zakon o planiranju i izgradnji (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 98/2006). Ustav Republike Srbije (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 72/2009, 81/2009 - ispr., 64/2010 - odluka US, 24/2011, 121/2012, 42/2013 - odluka US, 50/2013 - odluka US, 98/2013 - odluka US, 132/2014, 145/2014, 83/2018, 31/2019, 37/2019, 9/2020 i 52/2021). Zakon o planiranju i izgradnji (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 26/2011). Pravilnik o kriterijumima za umanjenje naknade za uređivanje građevinskog zemljišta u postupku legalizacije i o uslovima i načinu legalizacije objekata (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 25/2013a). Zakon o posebnim uslovima za upis prava svojine na objektima izgrađenim bez građevinske dozvole (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 95/2013b). Zakon o legalizaciji objekat (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 55/2014). Zakon o krivičnom postupku (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 64/2015a). Zakon o pretvaranju prava korišćenja u pravo svojine na građevinskom zemljištu uz naknadu (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 96/2015b). Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 83/2018). Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 47/2019). Strategija održivog razvoja Republike Srbije do 2030 (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik RS (br. 81/2020). Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik SR Srbije (br. 29/1973). Zakon o stambenim odnosima (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik SRS (br. 44/1984). Zakon o nadziđivanju zgrada i pretvaranju zajedničkih prostorija u stanove (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni glasnik SRS (br. 53/1993, 67/1993, 48/1994, 44/1995, 16/1997). Zakon o građevinskom zemljištu (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni list Grada Beograda (br. 27/2003a). Generalni plan Beograda (in Serbian). Belgrade: Službeni list Beograda.
Službeni list Grada Beograda (br. 30/2003b). Odluka o privremenim pravilima i uslovima za izdavanje odobrenja za izgradnju i upotrebu dozvola za objekte izgrađene, odnosno rekonstruisane bez građevinske dozvole do 13. maja 2003 (in Serbian). Belgrade: Službeni list Beograda.
Službeni list Grada Beograda (br. 11/2016). Generalni urbanistički plan Beograda (in Serbian). Belgrade: Službeni list Beograda.
Službeni list Grada Novog Sada (br. 39/2006). Generalni urbanistički plan Novog Sada (in Serbian). Novi Sad: Službeni list Novog Sada.
Službeni list FNRJ (br. 64/1947). Uredba o upisu prava vlasništva na nepokretnostima u državnoj svojini (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni list FNRJ (br. 46/1948). Osnovna uredba o projektovanju i građenju (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni list FNRJ (br. 68/1949). Osnovna uredba o generalnom urbanističkom planu (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni list FNRJ (br. 52/1958). Zakon o nacionalizaciji najamnih zgrada i građevinskog zemljišta (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni list SFRJ (br. 5/1968). Zakon o određivanju građevinskog zemljišta u gradovima i naseljima gradskog karaktera (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Službeni list SFRJ (br. 9/1974). Ustav Socijalističke Federativne Republike Jugoslavije (in Serbian). Belgrade: JP „Službeni glasnik“.
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) (2014). Data set 2014 [online]. http://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2014/Pdf/G20142013.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) (2021). Data set 2021 [online]. http://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2014/Pdf/G20142013.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) (2022). Statistical Calendar of the Republic of Serbia 2021 [online]. https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2021/pdf/G202117014.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
UN (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1;A/70/L.1) [online]. https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
UNECE (2017). Informal settlements in countries with economies in transition in the UNECE region [online]. https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/hlm/documents/Publications/Literature_Review_on_Informal_Settlements.pdf [Accessed: 24 May 2022].
UN-Habitat (2015a). Informal Settlements: HABITAT III Issue Papers (No. 22) [online].http://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Habitat-III-Issue-Paper-22_Informal-Settlements.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
UN-Habitat (2015b). International guidelines on urban and territorial planning (Report HS Number:HS/059/15E) [online]. https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/IG-UTP_English.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
UNHCR (2012). Global trends 2011 [online]. https://www.unhcr.org/4fd6f87f9.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2022].
Vahabi, M. (2016). A positive theory of the predatory state, Public Choice, Vol. 168, No.3/4, pp. 153-175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-016-0354-3
Varley, A. (2002). Private or public: Debating the meaning of tenure legalization. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 439-448. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.00392
Vienna Declaration (2004). Vienna declaration on informal settlements in South Eastern Europe [online]. https://locuireinformala.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Declaratia-de-la-Viena-privind-asezarile-informale-2004.pdf [Accessed: 19 May 2020].
Williamson, C., Kerekes, C. B. (2011). Securing private property: Formal versus informal institutions, The Journal of Law & Economics, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 537-572. https://doi.org/10.1086/658493
Wilson, B. J. (2020). The property species: Mine, yours, and the human mind. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wilson, B. J. (2022). The primacy of property; or, the subordination of property rights, Journal of Institutional Economics, Vol. 19, Issue 2, pp. 251-267. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137422000212
Zeković, S., Petovar, K., Nor-Hisham, B. M. S. (2020). The credibility of illegal and informal construction: Assessing legalization policies in Serbia, Cities, No. 97, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102548
Žegarac, Z. (1999). Illegal construction in Belgrade and the prospects for urban development planning, Cities, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 365-370. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0264-2751(99)00033-5
Živković, M. (1981). Prilog jugoslovenskoj urbanoj sociologiji. Beograd: Zavod za organizaciju poslovanja.
