Kragujevac is one of the five cities participating in the "Green Cities Serbia" project, which is financed by The Kingdom of the Netherlands, and on this occasion our city was visited by the recognized Dutch expert in industrial heritage rehabilitation projects, Thom Aussems. Since he led a similar revitalization project of the former Philips factory in Eindhoven, the reason for the visit is to support the process of reconstruction of the Military Technical Institute (the MTI complex) with his ideas, knowledge and experience. On behalf of the City of Kragujevac, he was hosted by Ivan Radulović, the Chief City Planner, and Dejan Ružić, Acting Chief of the City Administration for Development and Investments. 

Thanks to the Embassy and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, we applied for the rehabilitation project of the Military Technical Institute in Kragujevac, and they offered us experts who had managed projects similar in capacity, purpose and context, and related to industrial heritage in the Netherlands, said Mr. Radulović. Mr. Thom Aussems has invaluable long-term experience in participating in the planning, implementation and management of the conceptualization and branding of such complexes. 

After visiting the spot during the two-day workshop, Mr. Aussems shared his experiences and helped us direct the visions and concepts of seeing the future and what to expect from this space in 2040 or in 2050, Mr. Radulović explained. The main goal is to create concepts and programs that will make the MTI interesting, first of all for young people, so that they do not leave Kragujevac, but rather create accessible workplaces and adequate cultural content that could improve the social cohesion of the citizens of Kragujevac, but also of the entire region. We have to work step by step, with what we have, to plan globally, and at the same time solve property and other location-related problems. For such an authentic space, the main thing is to keep its essence, its industrial atmosphere, and be accessible to everyone. This is a long-term project that we will not finish, but we want to direct it using rich European experiences, said Mr. Radulović. 

The goal of the City of Kragujevac is to revitalize the entire complex of the Military Technical Institute with a new use of the existing old buildings that are under the highest degree of protection of the Republic of Serbia, and we are actively working on this. Тhe Dutch expert gave us his personal experience and knowledge, which will help us in the next steps of the revival of the MTI complex, said Dejan Ružić, the Acting Chief. Regarding the specific steps that the City of Kragujevac is taking at this moment, Mr. Ružić pointed out that a contract has already been signed with a contractor who will carry out the work on the stabilization of the Chimney according to the project of the Faculty of Architecture. After that the public company “Urbanism” will do the project for the Central Square where the Chimney is located. 

The idea is to get funds through the ITI project that we need to implement with the UNOPS and EU PRO plus, and then start the first phase of the revitalization of the MTI complex, Mr. Ružić explained. Bearing in mind that the City of Kragujevac currently has property over the plot of land including the Mechanical Workshop, the Central Square and the "Čaurnica" facility, we plan for the first phase to be the revitalization of that part . As these costs are very high, and the buildings are under the highest degree of protection of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia, the revitalization of both buildings will most likely be realized through a public-private partnership project, Mr. Ružić emphasized, expressing the expectation that the revival of this part will increase the interest in the entry of private capital. At the same time, he added, we are also conducting discussions with the Ministry of Defense to give us the use of the Museum of Weapons, which is currently not in operation due to technical problems. The City of Kragujevac is ready to bear the costs of maintenance, the curator, the security and everything else, and to open it for the citizens. At the same time, negotiations regarding the eventual relocation of Zastava Tervo are underway, considering that this dedicated industry does not have ideal conditions at this location. We are ready to offer them an alternative location, and the Ministry would take over the construction costs, said Mr. Ružić. 

Eindhoven is an industrial city where the two main factories were Philips and DAF. In the 1990s, a major reorganization took place and the transformation of the industrial space became the most important thing in the city, the Dutch expert, Thom Aussems, shares his experiences, adding that he sees a similar situation in Kragujevac. I think that the area of ​​The Prince's Arsenal has a great potential, and that it can be used to create a more beautiful city and a better quality of life. This area has a very interesting urban plan with over 100 beautiful buildings, and the recently finished Arsenal Fest showed me great possibilities, but which are realized only four days a year. It is a challenge to do this 24 hours a day, every day, and I notice that the City of Kragujevac has a lot of very educated people who can handle this challenge, Mr. Aussems concluded.