DrAna Peric Momcilovic

I study processes and practices through which planning systems address complex spatial problems, from national policy frameworks to community-level development. I approach this through a planning culture framework I have developed to read planning culture holistically, as the relations among individual beliefs, collective practices, and the societal environment, and ask what different configurations of those relations mean for social learning and democratic urban governance. Using qualitative and comparative methods, and situating the work within international planning studies, this cultural lens allows me to connect collaborative planning theory with the concerns of critical political economy, tracing how configurations of beliefs, practices, and societal context respond to financial and political pressure across contrasting traditions, from the consensus-driven direct democracy of Switzerland to the market-led, non-statutory frameworks of the United States and the post-socialist transitions of Central and Eastern Europe.

Empirically, I have pursued these questions through: collaborative planning practices in brownfield regeneration in Switzerland and the Danube region; integrated spatial and transport development along the Hamburg-Athens corridor; transformation of planning in Yugoslavia/Serbia (1945-2015); megaproject governance in Belgrade and Chicago; cooperative planning practices in densifying Zurich's neighbourhoods; and, most recently, state entrepreneurialism in Xi'an.

Recent research projects:

04.2026-08.2026:

Mapping Megaproject Planning Culture in Xi’an: A Preliminary Study

Funding: CDIC (Chang’an-Dublin International College of Transportation) 

06.2025-12.2025:
The Role of Social Inclusion in a Transition from Healthy Cities Towards Healthy Communities: A Case Study of Zurich's Tueffenwies Area

Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation

02.2025-02.2026:

Growing up in Dense Cities: Understanding the Impact of Density on Children's Health and Wellbeing

Funding: World Universities Network

01.2024-​01.2027:
MINIPART - Improving Participation in Spatial Planning of Mining Areas

Funding: Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia