In the previous decades, all city plans treated this area as part of the Sava Amphitheatre, one urban unit with Savamala across the river in the old section of Belgrade. This was all changed because of the project Belgrade Waterfront which officially kept this part within its scopes, but envisioned completely independent urban development. Despite the fierce opposition of the professional architects and urbanists, city refused to organize the international design competition in 2016. Because of this, and the even stronger opposition to the Belgrade Waterfront in general, it is perceived that the conventional 2016 project was chosen to "legalize" the entire project and to appease the public.