Though it originally had no forests in the real sense, Novi Beograd now has more green areas than all the other municipalities of Belgrade, with a total of 3.47 square kilometres (1.34 sq mi), or 8.5% of the territory.

In the book Kruševski pomenik from 1713, which is kept in the Dobrun monastery near Višegrad, the settlement of Bežanija was mentioned for the first time under its present name in 1512, as a small village with 32 houses, populated by Serbs.

The project was conceived by Đorđe Kovljanski and it included an idea of creating an island from the Savamala neighborhood (he coined the term "Sava amphitheatre") in old Belgrade.

A sandy beach with cabins, kafanas and barracks used as sheds by fishermen occupied the area of the modern Ušće quay, north of Branko's Bridge.

In total, 20 buildings and 2,000 cabins, barracks, or sheds were demolished, jointly by the municipalities of Zemun and Bežanija, which owned half of the land each, and the property owners.

It was expected that the work, estimated at 30 million dinars, would be finished by 1940 when the area was to become a nice, dried and elevated filled terrain suitable for the start of the construction of the "newest Belgrade".

[20] On 20 May 1938, president of the Yugoslav government Milan Stojadinović, pulled a lever on a Danish excavator, ceremonially starting the works to drain the land at the confluence.

[31] A monograph on the construction of New Belgrade by Slobodan Ristanović described what the area looked liked before the city was built: "In the thick reeds and bulrush there were many snakes and frogs, fishes and leeches.

Just a few houses and an occasional shack in the marsh around the Zemun airport, so as the derelict neighborhood of Staro Sajmište attested the human presence in that inhospitable ambience.

"[32] It was on 11 April 1948, three years after World War II ended, that the ground was broken on a huge construction project, which would give birth to what is known today as New Belgrade.

[32] Before the actual construction started, the terrain was evenly covered with sand from the Sava and the Danube rivers in an effort to dry out the land and raise it above the reach of flooding and underground streams.

It was for years the biggest construction site in Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and a huge source of pride for country's communist authorities that oversaw the project.

Other parts of the complex include the roofed farmers' market, garage with several hundred parking spaces and the Mercator Department Store, the largest one in Belgrade at that point.

[36][37] Since the 2000s, and especially in the 2010s, the rapid development resumed in the southwest half of the municipality, bounded by the streets Tošin Bunar, Vojvođanska, Milutina Milankovića and Sava's left bank.

Especially commended objects include Airport City, West 65, string of business building along the Omladinskih Brigada street, complex in Block 41-A, Holiday Inn hotel and a bit older headquarters of the municipal Tax Administration.

Design includes kindergarten, ambulance, while the central part will partially fulfil the original plans for the blocks 24 to 26, as the center of New Belgrade: it will be turned into the wide promenade, with ponds and fountains.

[80] Investor then posted a board which showed that the original building will be preserved but vastly expanded and superstructured (total of 8.500 m2 (91.49 sq ft) floor area).

The ethnic composition of the municipality (as of 2022) As all of the socialist governments considered heavy industry to be the driving force of the entire economy, it for decades dominated New Belgrade's economy too: Industry of Machinery and Tractors (IMT), Metallic cast iron factory (FOM), shipyard "Beograd" (formerly "Tito"), large heating plant in Savski Nasip, "MINEL" electro-construction company, etc.

Many companies choose New Belgrade for regional centers such as IKEA, Energoprojekt holding, Delta Holding, MK Group, DHL, Air Serbia, OMV, Siemens, Société Générale, Telekom Srbija, Telenor Serbia, Unilever, Vip mobile, Yugoimport SDPR, Ericsson, Colliers International, CB Richard Ellis, SNC-Lavalin, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, Ernst & Young and Arabtec.

Other notable structures built not too long afterwards include convention and congress hall Sava Center, Hotel Jugoslavija, Genex condominium, Genex Tower sports and concert venues Hala Sportova and Belgrade Arena, and 4 and 5-star hotels Crowne Plaza Belgrade, Holiday Inn, Hyatt Regency, Tulip Inn etc., with around 1700 rooms,...

Many IT companies choose New Belgrade as regional center like NCR Corporation, Cisco Systems, SAP AG, Acer, ComTrade Group, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, Samsung.

[93] The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):[94]  Several important thoroughfares run through New Belgrade, along with numerous wide boulevards that criss-cross most of its territory.

Two railway stations exist, the larger being the Novi Beograd which is located above the Antifašističke borbe street and is served by BG Voz and other local and international lines.

Historical Presidents of the Municipality since 1952:[98] For a settlement of such size, New Belgrade has some unusual cultural characteristics, influenced by the Yugoslav communists' ideas how a new and modern city should look like.

What started mostly as raft-like social clubs for river fishermen in the 1980s expanded into large floats offering food and drink with live turbo folk performances during the 1990s.

While most of the floats used to be synonymous with turbo folk in what was essentially a stereotypical kafana setting, a recent trend saw many turned into full-fledged clubs on water with elaborate events involving world-famous DJs spinning live music.

The objective was clearly to put up as many buildings as fast as possible, in order to accommodate a displaced and growing post-World War II population that was in the middle of a baby boom.

Although the problem has been alleviated to certain extent in recent decades by addition of some modern expansion (Hyatt and Intercontinental hotels, luxury Genex condos, Ušće Tower, Belgrade Arena, Delta City, etc.

They often use the derisive term "spavaonica" ("dormitory") to underscore their view of New Belgrade as a place that does not inspire creative living nor encourage healthy human interaction, and is only good for overnight sleep at the end of the hard day's work.

The most obvious example of the latter would be 2002 movie 1 na 1, which portrays a bunch of Serbian teenagers who rap, shoot guns, play street basketball and seem to blame many of their woes on living in New Belgrade.