The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred significant changes in the fields of economic development, social issues, everyday life, etc. Activities that used to depend on face-to-face communication were firstly suspended and then shifted to new forms of communication. This includes the public participation process in urban and spatial planning. Therefore, this study explores the new domain developed in urban and spatial planning with regard to public participation and surmises future realms in the post-pandemic era. On the occasion of the virtual collaboration platform Cyber Agora organized by the ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), chosen participants got together virtually to share, discuss, and compare their practical knowledge in public participation before and during COVID-19. In addition, they addressed the potential benefits of shifting from traditional to virtual participation and potential benefits in the post-COVID-19 era. Considering the collected data and understanding them in the light of the available literature, this study concludes that the application of a combined approach (using both traditional and virtual modes of participation) is recommended because it would enable a larger number and higher diversity of participants. The study also elaborates particular modes of virtual participation with the pros and cons of their use in a particular context.
A division between urban and rural settlements/areas has been traditionally applied in statistical reporting worldwide. The reports applying these terms have been used to create and implement development policies and measures. However, international policies such as those featured by the European Union (EU), as well as national policies, also recognize, define and render transitional types of settlements. The Program of Implementation of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia (2010) called for a new definition of the term "settlement" determined by new criteria for a settlement typology by the end of 2015. Except for theoretical contributions, this task has not been completed yet. At the same time, a trichotomous settlement typology has been recommended to Serbia by the EU as a result of the accession process. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze and discuss a new settlement categorization, taking into account considerations on the number of categories, number of variables, choice of variables and territorial level for data collection. These aspects are empirically tested on a data set collected through the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) in Serbia. The data are analyzed using two approaches: descriptive and cluster analysis. A parallel with other countries and theoretical recommendations is drawn in the discussion, based on which some recommendations are presented.
Land, as one of the basic environmental factors, is under large impact by intensive agricultural production, urbanisation, mining activities, erosion caused by anthropogenic factors, etc., which can easily result in its degradation. The unplanned land use increases the risks of degradation and reduction of the land resource. Chemical pollution, unfavourable physical and mechanical characteristics, disruption and accumulation processes, infrastructural occupancy of land represent only few forms of the land degradation. The largest portion of the land in the Republic of Serbia is covered by forests, and only then agricultural, water and construction land. The land use, management and protection is regulated by legislation and planning documents, which are the object of this paper. In the first part of the document analysis, the focus is on the review of the relevant laws adopted in Serbia, such as the Law on Forests, the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction, the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on Land Protection, and the Law on Agricultural Land, bearing in mind the fact that the legislation forms a basis for further implementation of the planning management and supervision of the land use of all types and purposes. The other part of the review deals with the planning acts as pioneering documents in the integral overview of space, and/or all the activities in it. To that purpose, several spatial plans for different types of areas and different primary functions of land use have been chosen. In its conclusion, this paper explains the symbiosis of legislation and planning documents, and/or their implementation, as well as the significance of such symbiosis for the land function and its sustainable utilisation in the Republic of Serbia.
As one of the signs of demographic change, population aging influences various spatial categories: economic activities, social features, land-use, perspectives for future development and more. Even though the process is indicative on a national level, there are significant differences among geographically and functionally distinctive regions. Based on considerable regional differences in the development of Serbia, this paper analyses the key problems of rural areas related to the interdependences of population aging and agricultural activities. Research on aging processes, changes in agricultural activities and their features is based here on the examples of two case studies. The Inđija and Knjaževac Municipalities have been chosen to represent geographically different regions - lowland and mountainous. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches in order to achieve a better understanding of the situation. Statistical data were used to illustrate processes of aging and agriculture where data from two census years indicate a trend of changes. Interviews conducted with representatives of local government, entrepreneurs and local citizens from the villages are the source of information for quantitative analysis. Population aging and agriculture are examined separately, followed by an illustration of their interdependences
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