Virtual social networks as a booster for reaching livable villages: examining Serbian cases

Abstract

Trends of abandonment and degradation of rural areas in Serbia in the last ten years reached the progression peak. There is a huge amount of rural territories with extreme demographic changes which lead to very serious misbalances in economic and social life on a local community level. Migration of rural inhabitants to urban centers lead to the completely abandoned villages, villages with no children, inhabited by elderly people, with large percent of one person families. The deeper and more integrated analysis of contextual change processes is necessary in order to identify all significant drivers of these trends.