Borderland Shrinking Cities: “Uncharted Territory” in International Research of Urban Shrinkage

Abstract

Shrinking cities has become a hotspot topic in international research during last decades. Although their shrinking patterns reflects the best through demographic loss, research cycles also point out that the main cause of their shrinkage is the economic problems of these cities. The other, less prominent factors has been just recently scientifically uncovered. This is the case with the issue of the proximity to or location of a city on national border. This factor is scarcely examined in the discourse of urban shrinkage, maybe due to the most of related research has been carried in larger countries or in economically united multi-state unions, where borderland position is less relevant. The aim of this paper is examine the influence of border on urban shrinkage in Serbia, a small European state where all national borders are fully controlled. This is done by comparing the demographic trends of the cities along long standing borders of Serbia, established after the World War I, with the same trends at national level. This comparison is critical to exact final recommendations for the urban planning of border cities, as well as for the regional planning of urban networks in Serbian borderlands.