With more than 150 km of riverbanks along the Sava and Danube and 16 islands, three of them within the inner urban area, Belgrade offers great potential for urban expansion and recreational architecture. Due to 19th-century urban solutions (railway, port), many riverfront areas remained disconnected from the old town. On the other hand, Belgraders have appropriated many of the riverbanks, sometimes informally, and these areas are now the city's recreational zones with raft and boat houses, beaches, bike paths, and restaurants. Over the past 15 years, the riverbanks have been reopened, and new districts have emerged, such as the controversial “Belgrade Waterfront” project, built on the site of the old railway station, or the new “Dorcol Waterfront” on the Danube, where new structures blend with existing residential, industrial, and port architecture.
