Belgrade: One of Europe’s Most Brutalist Cities

Belgrade feels like a dystopian movie — but it’s real. I spent a week exploring one of Europe’s most extreme Brutalist cityscapes. I spent a week exploring the Serbian capital in early 2025, filming across the vast district of Novi Beograd — a massive post-war urban expansion built almost entirely from concrete. Home to over 200,000 people, this area was constructed after World War II on previously empty land, as part of an ambitious socialist vision to reshape how people lived in the modern city. Through fog, drizzle, and cold winter light, the architecture takes on a completely different character: endless apartment blocks, monumental structures, and raw concrete surfaces that feel closer to a dystopian film set than a European capital. In this video, I focus entirely on the architecture — from iconic landmarks like the Genex Tower (Western City Gate) and the Toblerone Building, to massive residential complexes like the Rudo Towers (Eastern Gate), as well as the dystopian courtyards of Blok 23. I also explore sites beyond the city center, including the Kosmaj Monument and the rebuilt Avala Tower — I guess the only brutalist structure which was destroyed and later reconstructed. Brutalism, as an architectural style, emerged in the mid-20th century and is defined by raw concrete (“béton brut”), monumental scale, and a strong connection to social and political ideas. While it exists all over the world, Belgrade — shaped by Yugoslavia’s unique socialist path — offers one of the most cohesive and visually powerful examples. Having traveled across former Soviet and post-socialist countries, I didn’t expect Belgrade to stand out this much — but its scale, intensity, and atmosphere make it something entirely different. This video is a visual journey through that world — captured on foot, by tram, and from the air. ⏰ Chapters ⏰ 00:00 Intro 00:27 Background information 01:10 Estern Gate / Rudo Towers 02:25 Genex Tower 05:16 Toblerone Building 05:34 Sport Center "25 May" 06:00 Novi Beograd & "Blokovi" - Bloks 61-62 08:21 Tatra Tram ride 09:35 Blok 63 10:55 Blok 23 - Brutalist courtyards 12:37 Spomenik "Kosmaj" Monument 15:24 Avala Tower 16:19 Benjica neighbourhood 16:49 Vozdovac towers 17:50 Urban Planning Institute #urbex #urbanplanning #modernism #abandoned #lostplace #