Enhancing Biodiversity Through Adaptive Reuse of Urban Infrastructure: Migratory Bird Station RS017IBA in Belgrade

Unregulated urban development, along climate change, significantly disrupt migratory birds, making them highly vulnerable in search of food and resting places. At the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, through a master design studio, the focus was on exploring the reuse potential of heritage — specifically the Old Railway Bridge in Belgrade — with three main objectives: to be socially just, ecologically sustainable, and culturally enriching. The city of Belgrade, with its confluence, is placed on the migratory birds’ flyway from Northern Europe to Central Africa. Researching on behavior characteristics of migratory birds and the potential of bridge reuse, the aim was to create a hybrid structure that will bring people and nature closer together and provide birds with safety in the urban environment. Given the nature of birds to "squat" on human architecture, the proposed design solution has a parasitic character providing a temporary bird habitat and a place intended for bird watchers simulating the osprey’s migration route through various landscapes. The project enhances biodiversity encouraging similar actions of creating a network of migratory stations that will enable better systematic monitoring, study, and preservation of migratory birds in a world radically changed under human influence.