Regional disproportion encapsulated - Case studies of Južno pomoravlje and Timočka krajina regions of Serbia

Present discourses consider regionalisation as an inevitable strategic action in guiding development processes that have the spatial implications. In Serbia, where regional disproportions have been growing larger during the last two decades, some of the major issues that brought to the relative lagging back of the country in comparison to its surroundings can be summed up as: extremely uneven regional development which exceeds the ratio 1: 10 between its most and least developed regions; weak territorial cohesion; insufficiently used, underused or wrongly used territorial capital; and the issue of competitiveness. In the paper we especially focus on the most lagging back regions in Serbia, i.e. Južno pomoravlje - in the south, and Timočka krajina - in the east part of the country. Juzno pomoravlje is featured by territorial fragmentation (intra-regional differences) and insufficient integration in Serbia as a whole, as well as by unfavourable socio-economic conditions which get worse in the period of transition. Timočka krajina is a region with prolonged economic stagnation, which is, above all, manifested in the constant depopulation and emptying-out of its settlements, especially in the mountain, remote, and border parts of the region. Both regions have recently been prioritised in elaboration by the Regional spatial plans, and some of the findings will be presented her

Regional disproportion encapsulated - Case studies of Južno pomoravlje and Timočka krajina regions of Serbia

Present discourses consider regionalisation as an inevitable strategic action in guiding development processes that have the spatial implications. In Serbia, where regional disproportions have been growing larger during the last two decades, some of the major issues that brought to the relative lagging back of the country in comparison to its surroundings can be summed up as: extremely uneven regional development which exceeds the ratio 1: 10 between its most and least developed regions; weak territorial cohesion; insufficiently used, underused or wrongly used territorial capital; and the issue of competitiveness. In the paper we especially focus on the most lagging back regions in Serbia, i.e. Južno pomoravlje - in the south, and Timočka krajina - in the east part of the country. Juzno pomoravlje is featured by territorial fragmentation (intra-regional differences) and insufficient integration in Serbia as a whole, as well as by unfavourable socio-economic conditions which get worse in the period of transition. Timočka krajina is a region with prolonged economic stagnation, which is, above all, manifested in the constant depopulation and emptying-out of its settlements, especially in the mountain, remote, and border parts of the region. Both regions have recently been prioritised in elaboration by the Regional spatial plans, and some of the findings will be presented her

Problems of spatial-functional organization of Južno Pomoravlje region's network of settlements

During the elaboration of the Regional spatial plan of the municipalities of Južno Pomoravlje (Region Južno Pomoravlje) a special attention was paid to its network of settlements. Demographical and functional determinants of this network were analyzed based on the relevant theoretical-methodological concepts and qualitative-quantitative indicators. Settlement network of Južno Pomoravlje was considered as a subsystem of the Republic of Serbia's settlements' system. Correlation and causality between processes of spatial and socio-economic migration of population and functional transformation of settlements have been highlighted, which caused differentiation of the Region's municipalities to: urban cores - peri-urban rings - suburban more or less urbanized villages and rural surroundings. Models of decentralized concentration and micro-developing nuclei are proposed as instruments for decentralization of the Region or its municipalities. Based on the level of spatial-functional integration of settlements, regional as well as municipal and micro-functional - micro-regional structures have been identified. This paper gives conceptual and strategic proposals of spatial-functional organization of Južno Pomoravlje, which are based on settlements' determinants. Authors suggest that functional premises define determinants for the Regional spatial plan and steer the sectoral and strategic decisions

Dental status of adults in the eastern region of Republika Srpska

Introduction. A significant change in frequency and characteristics of oral diseases in developed countries has been detected recently. The aim of this study was to determine the dental status of teeth in adults in the eastern region of Republika Srpska and to determine possible difference in the prevalence of dental diseases according to the demographic characteristics. Materials and Methods. The study included 182 respondents aged 35-44 years and 185 respondents aged 65-74 years, selected randomly from four municipalities in the eastern region of Republika Srpska. Dental examinations were conducted according to the standards and criteria developed by the World Health Organization. Dental status, determined by DMFT index, was analyzed according to the gender and place of residence (urban/rural). Results. The mean DMFT index was 20.2 in the age group 35-44 years and 28.5 in subjects aged 65-74 years. The dominant component of the index in both studied groups was the number of extracted teeth. For subjects aged 65-74 years from rural areas a significantly higher DMFT index as compared to the residents in urban regions (p<0.05) was reported. Females had fewer caries lesions (p<0.05) and greater number of restored (p<0.01) teeth as compared to male respondents in the age group 35-44 years. On the other hand, in the older population study group, females had lower number of restored teeth (p<0.01), higher number of missing teeth (p<0.01) and higher DMFT index (p<0.2001) as compared to males. Conclusion. The present results indicate that the prevalence of caries in adults in the eastern region of Republika Srpska is very high

Recent changes of spatial and functional organization of urban regions and cities in Serbia

This paper summarizes the results of recent explorations of spatial and functional organization of Serbia based on identification of its urban regions (UR). Network of settlements was treated as a complex, open and dynamical system of urban regions, functional urban areas (FUR) and daily urban systems (DUS). These complex systems have been developed under the conditions of continuous redistribution of population and more/less synchronized processes of deagrarization, deindustrialization and urbanization with general socioeconomic flows. Determination of urban regions is theoretically and methodically based on principles of regionalization and recent doctrines of regional development, contemporary spatial planning and social and economics disciplines of social geography. Results to a great extent identify and scientifically explain problems of the development of spatial and functional organization of urban regions in Serbia

Strategic evaluation of economic feasibility of mountain tourist region development: Case study of Stara planina

This paper covers theoretical, methodological and practical discoveries and evaluation of the economic aspects of development and planning of the mountain tourist regions. The basic aspects of economic-spatial theories, analysis and methods are presented for research of development effects in the mountain regions. It is also pointed to the basic terms of the mountain tourist regions development in the countries of the European Union which realize respective development results The work analyses significance of tourism in development of the mountain regions characterized by the capability for innovative activities, i.e. starting the whole range of complementary activities which reversibly influence the forming of growth and development poles. Especially are analyzed commercial and non-commercial effects of realization of the mountain tourist centers in ecologically saved, but as a rule, economically not enough developed mountain regions. The approach in the strategic evaluation of the economic feasibility of development of the tourist region is considered in accordance with the experience of the countries with higher degree of mountain region development, on example of Stara planina. The analysis of economic feasibility of mountain region development Stara planina covered the following segments: market, consumption, number of employed, investment means and economic effects of exploitation. Considering the fact that Stara planina is region covered by the Park of Nature and Tourist region for which the Spatial plan is done, a special problem was harmonization of development and protection functions, i.e. evaluation of economic and ecological acceptability for development implementation. The Spatial plan foreseen rational model of sustainable regional development of the Stara planina region based on integration of urban and rural economies on one side and development of tourism and protection of nature, on the other

Classification of Rural Areas in Serbia: Framework and Implications for Spatial Planning

The classification of rural and urban areas presents an important topic both in scientific research and in the practice of spatial planning, regional policy making, and territorial governance. Taking into account the multidimensionality of these areas, this paper aims to provide a classification framework design for rural areas in Serbia. After selecting the relevant indicators, which were included to reflect the main demographic, economic, and physio-geographical characteristics of the Serbian rural areas, multivariate analysis (principal component method and factor analysis) was used to determine the main factors in the delimitation and classification of rural and urban areas. The last step of the conducted methodology used cluster analysis (CA) that identified six types of areas with similar characteristics. The results of this study and applied methodology can improve the existing rural-urban classifications and help planners and policy makers in the adaptation of strategic development documents

An approach for researching urban and metropolitan areas under the conditions of dynamic changes

Big cities, or their metropolitan areas, represent an important arena for research of spatial and socio-economic changes, with implications in a wider (national) framework. Urban dynamics, mainly from the aspect of land-use and distribution of population, is theoretically analysed following the sustainable development paradigm. Recently, with the growing influence of factors of uncertainty and vulnerability, that are exhibited also in the network of settlements, ideas such as ―renewal‖,―transformation‖ and ―reorganisation‖ gain a new significance. This paper makes an overview of the short period in which the transformations of land-use as well as some demographic and socio-economic changes of population took place and have been observed on the metropolitan areas of Belgrade and Novi Sad. Some potential directions of future changes in the selected metropolitan areas have been determined, with the goal of achieving a more successful urban areas’ steering through constant cycles of transformation and adaptation

Comparative analysis of elements and models of implementation in local-level spatial plans in Serbia

Implementation of local-level spatial plans is of paramount importance to the development of the local community. This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of and offer further directions for research into the implementation of spatial plans by presenting the results of a study on models of implementation. The paper describes the basic theoretical postulates of a model for implementing spatial plans. A comparative analysis of the application of elements and models of implementation of plans in practice was conducted based on the spatial plans for the local municipalities of Arilje, Lazarevac and Sremska Mitrovica. The analysis includes four models of implementation: the strategy and policy of spatial development; spatial protection; the implementation of planning solutions of a technical nature; and the implementation of rules of use, arrangement and construction of spaces. The main results of the analysis are presented and used to give recommendations for improving the elements and models of implementation. Final deliberations show that models of implementation are generally used in practice and combined in spatial plans. Based on the analysis of how models of implementation are applied in practice, a general conclusion concerning the complex character of the local level of planning is presented and elaborated

Prostorna struktura grada - od koncepta socijalne ekologije do koncepta održivog razvoja

This article contributes, in the form of theoretical discussion, to the review of relevant methods for determination of cities spatial structure through the retrospective of continuity/discontinuity of understanding their spatial structure from the school of classical sociology to the sustainable development paradigm. Particularly, authors underline significance and analyze main theories and their models (social-ecology, economics, system science and geography) in the researching of spatial structure of the cities. They conclude that urban settlements spatial structure is resultant of complex dynamically-developing processes between settlements networks and systems on the one, and also between their internal components, on the other side. In their essence, cities are not statical category, but complex and dynamical system whose structure reflects the relations between economic social and cultural organization of life, adapted to the geographic environment.U radu su, u formi teorijske rasprave, dati prikazi relevantnih postupaka za determinisanje prostorne strukture gradova kroz retrospekt kontinuiteta diskontinuiteta shvatanja njihove prostorne strukture, od paradigme klasične socijalne ekologije, do paradigme održivog razvoja. Posebno su naglašene i analizirane socio-ekološke, ekonomske, sistemske i geografske teorije u istraživanju prostornih struktura gradova i na njima zasnovani modeli. Došlo se do zaključka da je prostorna struktura urbanih naselja rezultanta delovanja složenih dinamično-razvojnih i integracijskih procesa koji se odvijaju u mrežama i sistemima naselja na jednoj strani, te između njihovih unutrašnjih komponenata na drugoj. Svojom biti, grad nije statična tvorevina već je složen i dinamičan sistem u čijoj se strukturi odražava oblik organizacije ekonomskog, socijalnog i kulturnog života, adaptiran uslovima geografske sredine u kojoj egzistira