How does radical urban transformation change the urban symbols of Belgrade?

A city's identity is based on a heterogeneous set of elements, among which material symbolism is very important since it is the basis of the visual representation and the city's silhouette. Nas's typology of symbolism was modified for the analysis of medium-sized cities in Serbia and then applied to examine the urban identity of Belgrade. In the last fifteen years, several housing projects have been started in Belgrade, and the Belgrade Waterfront Project (BWP) stands out because it radically transformed the existing urban structure by gentrifying a large centrally located area in the city. The paper's main aim is to analyze the perception of urban change and its impact on the city's identities based on three empirical studies conducted from 2018 to 2024 by the Institute for Sociological Research. Findings based on the first qualitative research (2018/19) show that Belgrade is positively evaluated as not a standardized tourist location. During that period, BWP was in the first phase of construction. In the second online survey (2021), members of the academic community in Belgrade criticize the commercialization of the city space and the direction of its development. The third online survey (2024) includes the student population, which was assumed to have a more positive attitude towards contemporary urban changes. However, this hypothesis was not confirmed. Namely, social science and humanities students don't recognize and don't accept BWP as a symbol of the city.