Po redaktohet Skopje (paragraf)

== Urbanism ==

=== Urban morphology ===
[[File:GUP Skopje 2002 mal.jpg|thumb|Skopje urban plan for 2002–2020:
<div>
{{Legend|#A42424|City centre}}
{{Legend|#FFA500|Collective housing}}
{{Legend|#FFF48D|Individual housing}}
{{Legend|#5472AE|Industrial areas}}
</div>]]

The urban morphology of Skopje was deeply impacted by the [[1963 Skopje earthquake|26 July 1963 earthquake]], which destroyed 80% of the city, and by the reconstruction that followed.<ref name=damages/> For instance, neighbourhoods were rebuilt in such a way that the demographic density remains low to limit the impact of potential future earthquakes.<ref name=post/>

Reconstruction following the 1963 earthquake was mainly conducted by the Polish architect [[Adolf Ciborowski]], who had already planned the reconstruction of [[Warsaw]] after [[World War II]]. Ciborowski divided the city in blocks dedicated to specific activities. The banks of the [[Vardar]] river became natural areas and parks, areas between the main boulevards were built with highrise housing and shopping centres, and the suburbs were left to individual housing and industry.<ref name="reconstruction">{{cite web |url=http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/faculties/alss/deps/law/staff0/home.Maincontent.0014.file.tmp/No7-Skopje.pdf |archive-url=https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20121217074412/http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/faculties/alss/deps/law/staff0/home.Maincontent.0014.file.tmp/No7-Skopje.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 December 2012 |title=Rebuilding Skopje |author=Robert Homes |publisher=Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and Chelmsford |access-date=26 February 2011}}</ref> Reconstruction had to be quick to relocate families and to relaunch the local economy. To stimulate economic development, the number of thoroughfares was increased and future urban extension was anticipated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kocaeli2007.kocaeli.edu.tr/kocaeli2007/TAM_METIN_NUMARALI-SIRALI-PDF/645-649.pdf |title=Urbanistic aspects of post earthquake reconstruction and renewal – experiences of Skopje following earthquake of July 26, 1963 |year=2007 |publisher=International Earthquake Symposium Kocaeli 2007 |author=Zoran Milutinovic |access-date=24 March 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Skopje SPOT 1114.jpg|thumb|left|Skopje as seen by the [[SPOT (satellite)|SPOT satellite]]. Mount Vodno is visible on the bottom left of the picture.]]
The south bank of the Vardar river generally comprises highrise tower blocks, including the vast Karpoš neighbourhood which was built in the 1970s west of the centre. Towards the East, the new municipality of [[Aerodrom Municipality (Skopje)|Aerodrom]] was planned in the 1980s to house 80,000 inhabitants on the site of the old airport. Between Karpoš and Aerodrom lies the city centre, rebuilt according to plans by Japanese architect [[Kenzo Tange]]. The centre is surrounded by a row of long buildings suggesting a wall ("Gradski Zid").<ref name=post/>

On the north bank, where the most ancient parts of the city lie, the [[Old Bazaar, Skopje|Old Bazaar]] was restored and its surroundings were rebuilt with low-rise buildings, so as not to spoil views of the [[Skopje Fortress]]. Several institutions, including the university and the Macedonian academy, were also relocated on the north bank to reduce borders between the ethnic communities. Indeed, the north bank is mostly inhabited by Muslim Albanians, Turks and Roma, whereas Christian ethnic Macedonians predominantly reside on the south bank.<ref name=reconstruction/>

The earthquake left the city with few historical monuments, apart from the Ottoman [[Old Bazaar, Skopje|Old Bazaar]], and the reconstruction, conducted between the 1960s and 1980s, turned Skopje into a [[modernist architecture|modernist]] but grey city. At the end of the 2000s, the city centre experienced profound changes. A highly controversial<ref>{{cite news |title=The makeover that's divided a nation |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28951171 |access-date=6 February 2017 |work=BBC News |date=30 August 2014 |last1=Launey |first1=Guy De}}</ref> urban project, "[[Skopje 2014]]", was adopted by the municipal authorities to give the city a more monumental and historical aspect, and thus to transform it into a proper national capital. Several neoclassical buildings destroyed in the 1963 earthquake were rebuilt, including the national theatre, and streets and squares were refurbished. Many other elements were also built, including fountains, statues, hotels, government buildings and bridges. The project has been criticized because of its cost and its historicist aesthetics.<ref name="objections">{{cite web |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/do-not-enter-yet-media-philip-of-macedon-also-in-skopje-s-center |title=Philip of Macedon Statute 'Planned' for Skopje Downtown |year=2010 |publisher=BalkanInsight |access-date=15 March 2011}}</ref> The large Albanian minority felt it was not represented in the new monuments,<ref name="Albanian objections">{{cite web |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/albanian-monuments-to-complement-skopje-2-aa4-project |title=Skopje: Controversy Over Albanian Monuments Continues |year=2010 |publisher=BalkanInsight |access-date=15 March 2011}}</ref> and launched side projects, including a new square over the boulevard that separate the city centre from the [[Old Bazaar, Skopje|Old Bazaar]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=95A31B3469C5F944B1B1494BF41F31AE |title=Поставен камен-темелник на плоштадот Скендер-бег во Скопје |date=17 January 2012 |publisher=Dnevnik |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119203107/http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=95A31B3469C5F944B1B1494BF41F31AE |archive-date=19 January 2012}}</ref>

Some areas of Skopje suffer from a certain anarchy because many houses and buildings were built without consent from the local authorities.<ref name="eco">{{cite web |url=http://www.skopje.gov.mk/en/images/File/Strategijata%20za%20LER%20na%20angliski.pdf |title=Local Economic Development Strategy of the City of Skopje, period 2006–2009 |year=2006 |publisher=City of Skopje |access-date=26 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414235529/http://www.skopje.gov.mk/en/images/File/Strategijata%20za%20LER%20na%20angliski.pdf |archive-date=14 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Skopje X48.JPG|Vapcarov Street, in the city centre.
File:Skopje - Old City (9454038410).jpg|A street in the [[Old Bazaar, Skopje|Old Bazaar]].
File:Towers Karpos4 Skopje.jpg|Highrise housing in Karpoš.
File:Park Aerodrom vo Novo Lisiče 03.JPG|The newly developed neighbourhood of Novo Lisiče, in Aerodrom.
File:Skopje 2014 - Archeological Museum of Macedonia (by Pudelek).JPG|The archeological museum, one of the elements of "[[Skopje 2014]]".
</gallery>

=== Urban sociology ===
[[File:Kapistec.jpg|thumb|Kapištec neighbourhood, developed during the 1970s. Some post-earthquake prefabricated houses can be seen in the foreground.]]

Skopje is an ethnically diverse city, and its urban sociology primarily depends on ethnic and religious belonging. [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] form 66% of the city population, while [[Albanians in North Macedonia|Albanians]] and [[Roma in North Macedonia|Roma]] account respectively for 20% and 6%.<ref name="stats1"/> Each ethnic group generally restrict itself to certain areas of the city. Macedonians live south of the [[Vardar]], in areas massively rebuilt after 1963, and Muslims live on the northern side, in the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. These neighbourhoods are considered more traditional, whereas the south side evokes to Macedonians modernity and rupture from rural life.<ref name="thiesen57">{{Cite book |author=Ilká Thiessen |title=Waiting for Macedonia: Identity in a Changing World |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2007 |isbn=9781551117195 |page=57}}</ref>

The northern areas are the poorest. This is especially true for [[Topaana]], in [[Čair municipality]], and for [[Šuto Orizari municipality]], which are the two main Roma neighbourhoods. They are made of many illegal constructions not connected to electricity and water supply, which are passed from a generation to the other. Topaana, close to the [[Old Bazaar, Skopje|Old Bazaar]], is a very old area: it was first mentioned as a Roma neighbourhood in the beginning of the 14th century. It has between 3,000 and 5,000 inhabitants. Šuto Orizari, on the northern edge of the city, is a municipality of its own, with [[Romani language|Romani]] as its local official language. It was developed after the [[1963 Skopje earthquake|1963 earthquake]] to accommodate Roma who had lost their house.<ref name="roma"/>

The population density varies greatly from an area to the other. So does the size of the living area per person. The city average was at {{cvt|19.41|m2|2|abbr=off}} per person {{As of|2002|lc=y}}, but at {{cvt|24|m2|0|abbr=off}} in [[Centar municipality (Skopje)|Centar]] on the south bank, and only {{cvt|14|m2|0|abbr=off}} in [[Čair municipality|Čair]] on the north bank. In [[Šuto Orizari municipality|Šuto Orizari]], the average was at {{cvt|13|m2|0|abbr=off}}.<ref name="stats1"/>

=== Localities and villages ===
[[File:Gorno Nerezi 2013 (1).JPG|thumb|[[Gorno Nerezi]], a village on the northern side of Mount Vodno.]]

Outside of the urban area, the City of Skopje encompasses many small settlements. Some of them are becoming outer suburbs, such as [[Čento]], on the road to Belgrade, which has more than 23,000 inhabitants, and [[Dračevo, Skopje|Dračevo]], which has almost 20,000 inhabitants.<ref name="dwelling">{{cite web |url=http://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/knigaX.pdf |title=Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Macedonia |year=2002 |publisher=State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia |access-date=16 October 2012}}</ref> Other large settlements are north of the city, such as Radišani, with 9,000 inhabitants,<ref name="dwelling"/> whereas smaller villages can be found on Mount Vodno or in [[Saraj municipality]], which is the most rural of the ten municipalities that form the City of Skopje.<ref name="region"/>

Some localities outside the city limits are also becoming outer suburbs, particularly in [[Ilinden municipality|Ilinden]] and [[Petrovec municipality]]. They benefit from the presence of major roads, railways and the [[Skopje "Alexander the Great" Airport|airport]], in Petrovec.<ref name="region"/>

=== Pollution ===
[[File:Urban pollution ,Градско загадување.jpg|thumb|Pollution contributors in the area of Skopje]]

Air pollution is a serious problem in Skopje, especially in winter. Concentrations of certain types of [[Particulates|particulate matter]] (PM2 and PM10) are regularly over twelve times the [[World Health Organization|WHO]] recommended maximum levels. In winter, smoke regularly obscures vision and can lead to problems for drivers. Together with India and [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[North Macedonia]] is one of the most polluted places in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/articles/delhi-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/articles/delhi-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Delhi the most polluted city in the world |last=Smith |first=Oliver |date=5 November 2019 |website=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Skopje's high levels of pollution are caused by a combination of smoke from houses, emissions from the industry, from buses and other forms of public transport, as well as from cars, and a lack of interest in caring for the environment. Central heating is often not affordable, and so households often burn firewood, as well as used car tyres, various plastic garbage, petroleum and other possible flammable waste, which emits toxic chemicals harmful to the population, especially to children and the elderly.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/skopje-europe-polluted-capital-city-190312092012504.html |title=Inside Skopje, Europe's most polluted capital city |last=Lee and Mickute |first=Joi and Viktorija |date=19 March 2019 |website=Al Jazeera}}</ref>

The city's smog has reduced its air quality and affected the health of many of its citizens, many of which have died from pollution-related illnesses.

An [[Application software|application]] called ''AirCare'' ('MojVozduh') has been launched by local eco activist [[Gorjan Jovanovski]] to help citizens track pollution levels. It uses a [[Traffic light]] system, with purple for heavily polluted air, red for high levels detected, amber for moderate levels detected, and green for when the air is safe to inhale.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.itu.int/how-skopje-north-macedonia-is-using-innovative-tech-to-clean-up-air-pollution/ |title=How Skopje is using innovative tech to clean up air pollution |last=ITU |date=5 June 2019 |website=ITU News |language=en |access-date=2 December 2019 |archive-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202214232/https://news.itu.int/how-skopje-north-macedonia-is-using-innovative-tech-to-clean-up-air-pollution/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> The application relies on both government and volunteer [[sensor]]s to track hourly air pollution. Unfortunately, government sensors are frequently inoperable and malfunctioning, causing the need for more low-cost, but less accurate, volunteer sensors to be put up by citizens. Faults on government sensors are especially frequent when the pollution is measured is extremely high, according to the AQILHC (Air Quality Index Levels of Health Concern).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://aqicn.org/city/macedonia/centar/ |title=Centar, Skopje, Macedonia Air Pollution: Real time Air Quality Index (AQI) |date=2 December 2019 |website=AQICN}}</ref>

On 29 November 2019, a march, organized by the Skopje Smog Alarm [[Activism|activist community]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/skopjesmogalarm/ |title=Skopje Smog Alarm |website=www.facebook.com |language=en |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://meta.mk/en/skopje-smog-alarm-asks-for-1-of-the-gdp-for-2018-for-the-protection-of-the-environment/?upm_export=html&lang=en |title=Skopje Smog Alarm asks for 1% of the GDP of 2018 for the protection of the environment |date=7 November 2017 |website=META Mk}}</ref> attracted thousands of people who opposed the government's lack of action in dealing with the city's pollution, which has worsened since 2017, contributing to around 1300 deaths annually.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraf.rs/english/2606068-beijing-is-nothing-compared-to-skopje-air-pollution-is-too-high-four-men-die-each-day-photo |title=Beijing is nothing compared to Skopje – Air pollution is too high, four men die each day |last=J. |first=D. |date=7 February 2017 |website=Telegraf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://meta.mk/en/skopje-smog-alarm-asks-for-1-of-the-gdp-for-2018-for-the-protection-of-the-environment/?upm_export=html&lang=en |title=Skopje Smog Alarm asks for 1% of the GDP for 2018 for the protection of the environment &#124; Meta.mk}}</ref>{{wide image|Скопски смог - photo by Giotto Скопје, Р. Македонија , Skopje, R. Macedonia - panoramio.jpg|1291px|alt=|A panoramic view of the smog in the central area of Skopje}}