Антропологија на градскиот идентитет на Скопје: плоштад Македонија
Anthropology of the urban identity of Skopje: Square Macedonia

Summary/Abstract: The absence of consistency and continuity in the social, political and urban development of Skopje is a fundamental problem in the construction of its urban identity. What is еspecially devastating is that each new stage of urban development undoes the past, in terms of complete denial of the previously established planning methods and techniques, in terms of a complete disregard for the previous architectural heritage and in terms of not affirming the previously built physiognomy and city character. Interruptions and stagnation in development had a corrosive influence in the process of growth of the city, which is especially visible in the central core of the city. The central core of the city today represents a conglomerate of spatial indeterminacy, ambiguities and contradictions. The spatial frameworks, that is, the borders of the “Macedonia“ square are unstable, unfinished and unclear, especially on its western side. Because of that, the sense of the integrity of the space is disturbed and the space is not united, that is, it “spills“ into the immediate surroundings. Perhaps the only consistency in the overall wider picture of the square is the views towards Skopje Kale, which represents the only stable and unchanging spatial category in the history of the square’s existence. The problems of the square in terms of identity are based on its multifaceted meaning, that is, internal (local) for its residents and external (regional, global) for visitors. The conflict arises because the main town square, in addition to ensuring local identity and belonging, has the task of representing national identity as well. Namely, the local meaning of the square for the residents contains a more intimate thread, i.e. the area of the square, the residents perceive it as their well-known space through which they pass daily, make meetings and is part of their mental map, while for the newcomers it represents a touristic challenge to visit. Тhere is a very intimate relationship between the individual and the space in which he moves and lives on a daily basis. The individual hopes, or rather deceives himself, that he rules the space, that is, by living in that space, he has somehow appropriated it. With this, he believes that he has the right to participate in these changes, but most of the time this does not happen. The space in which the resident lives, at the height of the tourist season, he has to share with the tourist, that is, he has to get used to the spatial changes caused by the tourist, and here a conflict arises, that is, resistance among the resident, in this case the so called „old skopjanec“. Тhrough the construction of the „Skopje 2014“ project, an attempt was made to (re)define the national identity through the installation of the multitude of monuments in the “Маcedonia“ square, but was that attempt successful and for whom? Тhe use of a multitude of symbolic elements in a relatively small space leads to symbolic disorder and the absence of the possibility of a dignified focus on the symbols separately. However, in the whole process, Skopje remained a „scapegoat“ in the processes of „baroqueization“, “antiquization“, “Europeanization“, etc. and its public spaces remained as spaces with disturbed spatial relations, identity, image and symbolism.

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