Big voids in planning legislations and turnovers in social, political and economic circumstances have lead to major space misuse in many coastal towns along the Adriatic. Looking for a quick return, housing and tourism oriented projects seamed to be the easiest and the most profitable opportunity. Apart from the profit lead reasons and legislation created environment, there was an obvious deficit in these categories, especially in popular touristic destinations in Montenegrin coast. Popularity of towns such as Kotor, Budva, Petrovac, Bar and other has been rising and there was a big demand for new spaces. And while Budva has been destroyed in urban and architectural terms, there are towns, such as Kotor that somehow managed to keep form, spirit and charm it always had. Of course, this town will spread and develop as well and we want to be there, as architects, scholars and thinkers.
Established by DVARP, as part of Kotor ART festival, Kotor Architectural Prison Summer School took place in an Old Austrian Prison in Kotor, Montenegro. Set to host great mentors and lecturers, there are two main parts of Kotor APSS: the summer school workshop with final work exhibition and student presentation, and the final conference "APSS talk" and Panel discussion based on the workshop Topic and Conclusions, which is open to the wider public.
The plan itself has marked the beginning of the tourism as an economic branch in the region. Tourism has been considered as an addition and insurance to the existing economy and the way to bring leisure closer to working people of industrialization. One of the key moments that have influenced urban chaos in Montenegrin coast seems to be the introduction of the apartment as a tourism unit. Apartment, or bed production has been much cheaper, faster and less demanding than hotel building. The unit itself has multiplied and shaped the architecture as well as the wider urban context and certain patterns in social behavior. During the 90s, the apartment unit has created the urban chaos in the city on the coast we are struggling to correct today.
