Čukarička Padina Explained

Čukarička Padina
Native Name:Чукаричка Падина
Native Name Lang:sr
Settlement Type:Urban neighbourhood
Pushpin Map:Serbia Belgrade
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Belgrade
Coordinates:44.7769°N 20.4069°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Serbia
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Type2:Municipality
Subdivision Name2:Čukarica
Unit Pref:Metric
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone1:CET
Utc Offset1:+1
Timezone1 Dst:CEST
Utc Offset1 Dst:+2
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Area Code Type:Area code
Area Code:+381(0)11
Blank Name:Car plates
Blank Info:BG

Čukarička padina (Serbian: Чукаричка Падина) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica.

Location

Čukarička Padina is located between the neighborhoods of Čukarica to the east, and Makiš to the west. Actually, it is the westernmost part of the Banovo Brdo neighborhood, a strip of land on the slopes of the hill alongside the Savska magistrala road, overlooking the Sava river and Ada Ciganlija, thus the descriptive name, Čukarička Padina, which in Serbian means slope of Čukarica.

Characteristics

The bank of the Sava river where the modern neighborhood is, was a starting point of the raft ferry line which connected two sides of the river. The merchants dug lagums, underground rooms and corridors into the rock slope and used them as a storage areas. The lagums still exist, but the entrances are buried.[1]

The southernmost, triangularly shaped extension of the local community includes the FMP complex. It is located between the streets of Endija Vorhola (on the east) and Milorada Jovanovića (on the west), and the northern slopes of Julino Brdo (on the south). The large complex includes former metal factory FMP and the basketball hall. In March 2023 it was announced that all 18 existing structures within the complex will be demolished, and the commercial-residential project "Victory Gardens", with five large buildings, will be built instead.[2]

The local community had a population of 9,296 in 2011.

Transport

Čukarička Padina is connected with other parts of the city by public transport:

Bus lines:

Night lines:

Čukarička Šuma

In time, a shanty town developed in the woods across the New Obrenovac motorway. It was named Čukarička Šuma (Čukarica Forest).[3] An informal settlement, it is inhabited by the Romanies who work as a waste pickers and mostly use fire to extract the valuable materials from the garbage. Since the early 2010s, as the settlement grew, a large, thick clouds of smoke and bad smell from the burning garbage began cloaking urbanized section of the settlement almost on a daily basis. Frequent gatherings and public protests of the citizens and limited communal efforts to clean, adapt and sanitize the forested area around the shanty town failed to solve the problem despite the fact that the activities which cause it are illegal. Municipality of Čukarica promised it will relocate the informal settlers and build a recycling center which will bring the activities of the settlers into the legal flows. As of March 2018, the shanty town had some 80 houses,[4] and the pollution problems continued into 2019.[5]

Notes and References

  1. News: Aleksandra Kurteš . Тајне подземља Чукарице . Secrets of Čukarica's underground . Politika . sr . 17 September 2018.
  2. News: Daliborka Mučibabić . Stanovi na mestu bivšeg FMP-a na Čukarici . Apartments on the location of the former FMP in Čukarica . Politika . 16 . sr . 2 March 2023 .
  3. News: Branka Vasiljević . sr: Вода и храна за неформално насеље на Чукарици . Water and food for informal settlement in Čukarica . Politika . 15 . sr . 28 April 2020.
  4. News: Ana Vuković . Stanari Čukaričke padine još strahuju za zdravlje . Inhabitants of Čukarička Padina still fear for their health . . 14 . sr . 19 March 2018 .
  5. News: Ana Vuković . Dim i dalje guši Čukaričku padinu . Smoke continues to choke Čukarička Padina . Politika . 15 . sr . 5 March 2019 .