This article draws on two focus groups interviews conducted in April 2025, within the framework of the Erasmu + SPACE project - one in Kačarevo, a village in the municipality of Pančevo, and the other in Padinska Skela, a peri-urban settlement on the outskirts of Belgrade.

Despite differing in context and scale, both communities reveal shared patterns of institutional neglect, deterioration of public infrastructure, and the absence of meaningful spaces for youth engagement. Yet, they also demonstrate striking examples of grassroots mobilization, with citizens self-organizing to clean, maintain, and advocate for their local environments. From crowdfunding playgrounds in Kačarevo to negotiating urban plans in Padinska Skela, these cases underscore the potential of locally driven efforts to reclaim public space and demand accountability, despite the structural limitations they face.The research was conducted through semi-structured focus group discussions, allowing participants to share their experiences, concerns, and ideas in an open and conversational format. Each focus group brought together a diverse mix of community members, including core organizers, volunteers, residents, and parents, ensuring a range of perspectives. The sessions were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed to identify key issues related to public space, youth engagement, and institutional relations. This qualitative approach provided rich, grounded insights into the everyday realities and collective practices shaping community life in Kačarevo and Padinska Skela.

The following sections present detailed insights from each location, highlighting both shared challenges and unique local dynamics. By examining residents’ experiences, strategies, and frustrations in their own words, the report sheds light on how rural and peri-urban communities confront systemic barriers while also uncovering opportunities for meaningful intervention, solidarity, and support.

Kačarevo

Representatives of the informal citizen association Zajedno Selo from Kačarevo, provided valuable insights into the challenges and dynamics surrounding public spaces, community mobilization, and youth engagement in their village. The conversation revealed a grassroots movement driven by frustration with institutional neglect, yet also highlighted citizens’ resilience and creativity.
The association, which operates without formal structure or funding, has grown to include 300–400 members, many of whom were mobilized through recent protests and plenums.

This started as a small group, but with the protests and blockades, it’s now 300-400 active people. Some know their rights; others are just fed up and reacting. (FG Kačarevo, Zajedno selo, April 2025)

Ana Svilar described the group as polarized — some members are well-informed and proactive, while others, though passionate, lack the legal or organizational knowledge to contribute strategically. A small core team, primarily women, handles most of the administrative and legal work, including filing complaints about ecological violations and misuse of public funds. These efforts are often met with bureaucratic resistance, such as delayed responses to information requests or outright dismissal by local authorities.
A significant portion of the discussion focused on the state of public spaces in Kačarevo. While parks, playgrounds, and sports facilities exist, their condition ranges from neglected to hazardous. Participants explained that the local government collects fees for maintenance but fails to deliver adequate services, forcing residents to organize cleanups and mowing themselves.

Every year, we clean the park ourselves. The city takes money for maintenance, but where does it go? Grass grows waist-high, and trash piles up. We’re tired of being unpaid janitors. (FG Kačarevo, Zajedno selo, April 2025)

Access to communal spaces is another issue: halls that should be available for civic gatherings are often locked outside working hours — unless they’re being used for political campaigns of the ruling party. Meanwhile, sports facilities require approvals from the city of Pančevo, creating unnecessary barriers for local use.

It is called it a ‘public sports center,’ but to book it, you need approval from the city office. Meanwhile, private companies get priority. Our kids play on cracked concrete. (FG Kačarevo, Zajedno selo, April 2025)

The neglect extends to recreational areas, where broken playground equipment and overgrown vegetation pose safety risks. Ana shared a telling example: after citizens crowdfunded a new playground, the local council initially blocked the project, only relenting under public pressure. The city eventually built a larger playground, but has since failed to maintain it.

We fought for a year just to get the city to build a safe playground. Now it’s broken again, and no one fixes it. We’re back to square one. (FG Kačarevo, Zajedno selo, April 2025)

Illegal dumping is another persistent problem, exacerbated by the city’s decision to reclassify landfills as “wild dumps” to avoid upkeep costs — a move participants described as emblematic of systemic disregard for residents’ needs.

When it comes to youth engagement, the lack of infrastructure is a major obstacle. Kačarevo has no dedicated cultural or alternative spaces for young people, and past attempts to organize events, like rock concerts, were one-off efforts due to funding constraints. Participants noted that while some students and young adults participate in the community, their involvement in long-term advocacy remains limited. The absence of structured programs or venues leaves few opportunities for meaningful participation.
Despite these challenges, participants expressed cautious interest in the SPACE Project’s training on public space activation, though they acknowledged potential hurdles like foreign language barriers and limited capacity. Their reflections underscored a broader truth: while citizens like those in Zajedno Selo are willing to fight for their community, they need support — whether through resources, knowledge-sharing, or advocacy tools — to turn their efforts into sustainable change.

Finally, Kačarevo’s struggles with public spaces and youth engagement reflect deeper institutional failures, but also the potential of grassroots movements to drive accountability. The SPACE Project could play a pivotal role by facilitating training, fostering partnerships, and amplifying local voices in decision-making processes. Future collaboration should prioritize low-cost, high-impact solutions that empower residents to reclaim and revitalize their shared spaces.

Padinska Skela

The focus group with members of Volim Padinjak, a citizen association in the peri-urban settlement of Padinska Skela, revealed both the resilience and challenges of a community striving to improve public spaces and engage younger generations. ​​

Registered but entirely volunteer-led, Volim Padinjak functions with impressive commitment, organizing activities, raising awareness, and pressing local authorities for improvements in infrastructure, green space maintenance, and youth engagement. The conversation revealed a blend of institutional neglect, grassroots initiative, and community resilience. The group consists of around 800 people, but its active base is far smaller — 20 to 30 individuals participate regularly, especially during community clean-up actions or public events. A nine-member board, composed mostly of middle-aged women, coordinates the group’s activities. All members work voluntarily, with formal project involvement being the only instance of compensated effort. Despite limited capacity, the association has built partnerships with local schools and kindergartens to carry out community projects, particularly those involving children.
Participants repeatedly underscored systemic neglect, particularly around the maintenance of green spaces and infrastructure. Overgrown parks, broken sidewalks, and neglected public roads are common. Cooperation with public companies like Serbia Forests and Serbia Waters occasionally helps with maintenance, but results are inconsistent and often dependent on personal relationships with sympathetic officials. When formal partnerships exist, such as prior agreements on maintaining irrigation canals, they often go unfulfilled.

Our biggest problem is that we clean up a space, and within a month, it’s dirty again because no public service comes to maintain it. (FG Padinska Skela, Volim Padinjak, April 2025)

Public spaces, though abundant in potential, are functionally unusable. The group recounted the decline of once-active facilities like a cultural center and a local community hall. Today, they must schedule hall usage days in advance, and even then, it is often locked. In the absence of institutional support, the community has relied on crowdfunding and donations for tools and equipment, such as lawn mowers, to maintain green spaces themselves.
Youth engagement was a recurring concern. Members noted the lack of structured activities or spaces tailored to teenagers and young adults. Though some collaboration exists with schools, youth participation is typically limited to isolated events, such as organized runs or film screenings followed by thematic discussions. One example included discussions on addiction and mental health after documentaries in an open-air improvised cinema. Despite these efforts, older adolescents and university-age youth remain largely disengaged.

There are no cafes, no youth centers, not even a proper sports club. Kids are stuck on their phones or wandering aimlessly. (FG Padinska Skela, Volim Padinjak, April 2025)
The area’s relative safety and abundant green spaces do provide children with the freedom to play outdoors, a feature the group values. Still, these spaces lack intentional design, supervision, or maintenance. A small success story emerged when a high school student mobilized his peers for a canal clean-up via a group chat—an event seen as a rare but hopeful sign of emerging youth activism. “Ten kids showed up because one boy said, ‘Let’s do this!’” shared a member. Yet such moments are rare. Participants linked youth exodus to the lack of amenities: “Who stays here when there’s no café, no jobs, just one betting shop?”(FG Padinska Skela, Volim Padinjak, April 2025).

Issues with institutional responsiveness dominated much of the discussion. The group has filed numerous complaints and petitions on topics ranging from improper water services to unregulated construction. Despite occasional inspections or meetings with officials, follow-through is minimal. A significant achievement was their inclusion in the development of a detailed urban plan after previous objections to general planning proposals were ignored. This allowed them to influence zoning and resist environmentally harmful expansions.
Still, skepticism persists. The community remains wary of political co-optation and disillusioned by repeated dismissals. For example, expanded housing plans threaten to eliminate forests that shield residents from nearby pesticide-sprayed fields — a major health concern.
There’s no structured content for kids or teens. The only thing we really have is the forest. And now they want to cut it down. (FG Padinska Skela, Volim Padinjak, April 2025)

In conclusion, Padinska Skela's residents demonstrate remarkable determination in the face of administrative indifference. They have managed to sustain community-driven initiatives, maintain green areas, and organize events with minimal resources. However, sustained support — in the form of accessible public infrastructure, youth programs, and reliable municipal cooperation — is crucial. Efforts like the SPACE Project could amplify these grassroots actions through training, advocacy support, and small-scale funding, turning isolated success stories into a broader movement for community-led urban revitalization.