IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Abstract

Janjeva is a small town in the Lipjan municipality in eastern Kosovo. As a settlement, it has a long history, mentioned for the first time in 1303 as a Catholic parish. Janjeva was once one of Southeast Europe’s most important mining and trading centres and was home to different people from all over the Balkans. Janjeva attracts visitors due to its relevance in terms of heritage. However, a significant deterioration is visible in the form of empty shops, abandoned buildings, vacant lands, and a generally poor environment to live in or visit. The main reasons for the decline in Janjeva being de-industrialisation, globalisation, and adaptation of new economic activities to the body and space. The historic buildings of Janjeva, the physical manifestation of memory that makes Janjeva significant as a town, are the most vulnerable during change. This is mainly because of the difficulty in establishing harmonious relations between old and new. Thus, conservation and adaptive reuse are always an essential design problem in these towns, as conservation focuses on the retention of the old and reuse on function. However, the half-forgotten mining town of Janjeva, seen by Krasniqi as a place where people live in between ruins, has a Sui-generis mix of three characteristics: multiplicity, diversity and adaptability – that can be a starting point for regenerative transformation in Janjeva. Through analysing and dispersing these characteristics into design principles, this paper seeks to define the design paradigm for the historic town of Janjeva.