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The Urban Settlement Network in Serbia – initial data

According to the methodology of the Statistical Office of Serbia a total number ofsettlements in Serbia is 4706

1  (without data for Kosovo and Metohia

2) out of which 2722

settlements have less then 500 inhabitants, 1804 have 500 to 4,999 inhabitants, 169 settlements

have 5,000 to 49,999 inhabitants, and 18 have more than 50,000 inhabitants. Concerning thedistribution of the population it is concluded that Serbia is characterized by a large number ofsettlements, whose number is continuously increasing year by year.

Regarding the urban settlement network in Serbia, it is consisted of 169 urban settlements

 – 117 in the Central Serbia and 52 in Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.Small urban settlements dominate in the spatial and functional organization of the

settlement network (Table 1)3.

Table 1. The distribution of urban settlements by size (2002).

 No of inhabitants No of urban settlements % of urban population Cumulative

< 5 0005 001–10 00010 001–50 000

50 001–100 000

100 001–200 000

=> 200 001

524158

14

3

1

3,217,2729,10

21,36

12,08

26,53

135 500442 3601 649 790

2 550 770

3 070 650

4 189 630

Total 169 100 -

Source: Census of population 2002. Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade

Although the settlement network of Serbia is characterized by a favourable distribution of

settlements and the nodal centres, detailed analysis of the concentration of population andfunctions in them points to the certain problems.

In the City of Belgrade lives more than 22% of the total population of Serbia. Also, the

 prominence of the City of Belgrade is indicated by the ratio of the population size of 5.87 between two largest urban settlements City of Belgrade and City of Novi Sad (urban settlement

of Belgrade is 5.87 times bigger than urban settlement of Novi Sad, e.g. 5.3 considering thewhole city areas

4). Disharmony of population size between largest and other urban settlements in

Serbia indicates that urban settlement network is not properly and evenly developed.

1 Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2002 Census of Population, Book 9: ‘Comparative Number of Inhabitants 1948,1953, 1961, 1971, 1991 and 2002 - Data by Municipalities’ http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/Public/PageView.aspx?pKey=164  2 Kosovo will be the subject of the National Report for Kosovo under UN 12443 Thematic book Settlement network in Serbia, 2010-2020, Official Gazette No 88/10.4 The total surface area of the administrative area of the City of Belgrade is 3,244 km2 (3.65 % of the territory of Serbia) with1,574,050 inhabitants (1,119,642 inhabitants in urban settlement of Belgrade) in 154 settlements in year 2002. There are 17

municipalities in the City of Belgrade, of which 10 are inner city municipalities. There are 26 other nearby settlements of urban,urbanized and rural type of settlements in those 10municipalities. 130 more settlements are located in other 7 municipalities ofthe territory of the City of Belgrade. Also, there are 2 city manipulates in the territory of the City of Novi Sad, 5 citymunicipalities in the territory of the City of Nis, and 2 in the City of Pozarevac.

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The apparent lack of the cities of 200.000 to one million inhabitants is an obviousobstacle to balanced development of Serbia (only Novi Sad and Nis have more than 200.000

inhabitants, Table 2).

It should be emphasised the difference between the urban settlement  and the city defined

 by the Law on the Territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia

5

.

According to the Law on the Territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia the

territory of the Republic of Serbia is divided into municipalities, cities and the City of Belgradeas territorial units, and autonomous provinces (Vojvodina, and Kosovo and Metohija) as

territorial autonomy. The Law on Territorial Organization defines the territory with the status ofcity and with the status of municipality, as follows:

  the city  is a territorial unit that represents economic, administrative, geographic and

cultural center of the wider area with more than 100.000 inhabitants. Exceptionally, regardingspecific economic, geographic and historical reasons a territorial unit with less than 100.000

inhabitants could be defined as a city if it fulfills all the other criteria specified by the Law. Theterritory with the status of city represent a natural geographic entity, economically connected

area with well established communication within inhabited areas and with the city center as agravitational center . The city can be divided into city municipalities;

  the municipality is the basic entity of local self-government, able to fulfill all the rightsand duties within its jurisdiction, and counting at least 10,000 inhabitants. Exceptionally,

regarding specific economic, geographic and historical reasons a new municipality can beformed with less than 10.000 inhabitants. The territory of the municipality represents a natural

geographic entity, economically connected area with well established communication withininhabited areas and with the seat as a gravitational center.

The Law on the Territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia established 24 cities on

the territory of the Republic of Serbia (Belgrade, Valjevo, Vranje, Zajecar, Zrenjanin, Jagodina,Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Krusevac, Leskovac, Loznica, Nis, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad, Pancevo,

Pozarevac, Pristina6, Smederevo, Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica, Subotica, Uzice, Cacak i Sabac).

5 Law on territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette No 129/07)

6 Pristina is the capital of Kosovo and Metohia, and other cities in Kososvo will be the subject of the National Report for Kosovounder UN resolution 1244. The status of Kosovo and Metohia has not been definitely solved so far. According to the Constitution

of Serbia it is one of two autonomous provinces of the Republic of Serbia. According to the Constitution of Kosovo it is anindependent state. The international community is still divided: 76 out of 192 (40%) United Nations members recognized Kosovoas independent country. Based on this ambiguity, in this report Kosovo is treated as a territory under UN resolution 1244

 jurisdiction and will be elaborated separately.

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Table 2. The cities in Serbia

City (by the size)

Estimated

 population

2009*

Categorization (importance in the Functional Urban Area7)

Belgrade 1,630,582 The capital of Serbia (MEGA)

 Novi Sad 327,175 The capital of AP of Vojvodina (international FUA)

 Nis 255,479The largest city and the economical, cultural and political center ofthe Region of Eastern and Southern Serbia (NUTS 2) (international

FUA)

Kragujevac 174,318

The largest city and the economical, cultural and political center of

the Region of Sumadija and Central Serbia (NUTS 2) (national

FUA)

Leskovac 149,279 national FUA

Subotica 144,540 national FUA

Krusevac 127,551 national FUA

Zrenjanin 125,391 national FUA

Pancevo 124,362 national FUA

Kraljevo 118,959 national FUA

Sabac 118,720 national FUA

Cacak 115,612 national FUA

Smederevo 108,046 national FUA

 Novi Pazar 96,597 national FUA

Valjevo 93,117 national FUA

Sombor 89,314 national FUA

Vranje 86,753 national FUA

Loznica 82,749 national FUA

Sremska Mitrovica 81,613 national FUA

Uzice 79,601 national FUA

Pozarevac 74,463 national FUA

Jagodina 69,949 regional FUA

Zajecar 61,446 regional FUA

Source: * Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade

7 The Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2010-2020, Official Gazette N o 88/10 

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Map: Network of Urban Centers and Reional Organisation, Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia, 2010