Čukarička padina ( sr-cyr, Чукаричка Падина) is an urban neighborhood of

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, the capital of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of

Čukarica Čukarica ( sr-cyr, Чукарица, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Name Like several other neighborhoods of Belgrade, Čukarica was named after a kafana. At the present location of the Sugar Refin ...

Location

Čukarička Padina is located between the neighborhoods of Čukarica to the east, and

Makiš Makiš () is a forest and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Makiš is bordered by the Sava river and Sava Lake to the west and north, Čukarica and Čuka ...

to the west. Actually, it is the westernmost part of the Banovo Brdo neighborhood, a strip of land on the slopes of the hill alongside the ''Savska magistrala'' road, overlooking the

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

river and

Ada Ciganlija Ada Ciganlija ( sr-Cyrl, Ада Циганлија, ), colloquially shortened to Ada, is a river island that has artificially been turned into a peninsula, located in the Sava River's course through central Belgrade, Serbia. The name can also ...

, thus the descriptive name, Čukarička Padina, which in Serbian means ''slope of Čukarica''.

Characteristics

The bank of the

river where the modern neighborhood is, was a starting point of the raft ferry line which connected two sides of the river. The merchants dug ''lagums'', underground rooms and corridors into the rock slope and used them as a storage areas. The ''lagums'' still exist, but the entrances are buried. The southernmost, triangularly shaped extension of the local community includes the FMP complex. It is located between the streets of Endija Vorhola (on the east) and Milorada Jovanovića (on the west), and the northern slopes of

Julino Brdo Julino Brdo ( sr-Cyr, Јулино брдо) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Julino Brdo is the northernmost tip of Žarkovo neighborhood, located b ...

(on the south). The large complex includes former metal factory FMP and the basketball hall. In March 2023 it was announced that all 18 existing structures within the complex will be demolished, and the commercial-residential project "Victory Gardens", with five large buildings, will be built instead. The local community had a population of 9,296 in 2011.

Transport

Čukarička Padina is connected with other parts of the city by public transport: Bus lines: * No. 55: Zvezdara - Stari Železnik; * No. 56: Zeleni Venac - Petlovo Brdo; * No. 56L: Zeleni Venac - Čukarička Padina; * No. 87: Čukarička Padina - Banovo Brdo; * No. 89: Vidikovac - Novi Beograd (Blok 61); * No. 581: Beograd (Lastina stanica) - Lazarevac AS; * No. 581A: Beograd (Lastina stanica) - Lazarevac (Dom zdravlja); Night lines: * No. 511: Trg Republike - Sremčica

Čukarička Šuma

In time, a

shanty town A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron s ...

developed in the woods across the New Obrenovac motorway. It was named Čukarička Šuma (Čukarica Forest). An informal settlement, it is inhabited by the Romanies who work as a

waste picker A waste picker also known as waste collector or garbage collector is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. There are millions of waste pickers worldwide, predominantly ...

s and mostly use fire to extract the valuable materials from the garbage. Since the early 2010s, as the settlement grew, a large, thick clouds of smoke and bad smell from the burning garbage began cloaking urbanized section of the settlement almost on a daily basis. Frequent gatherings and public protests of the citizens and limited communal efforts to clean, adapt and sanitize the forested area around the shanty town failed to solve the problem despite the fact that the activities which cause it are illegal. Municipality of

promised it will relocate the informal settlers and build a recycling center which will bring the activities of the settlers into the legal flows. As of March 2018, the shanty town had some 80 houses, and the pollution problems continued into 2019.

References

Neighborhoods of Belgrade Čukarica {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub