Sustainable rural development in Serbia: towards a quantitative typology of rural areas

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of quantitative approach in establishing the typology of rural areas in Serbia. For this purpose, from the spectrum of multivariate statistical methods available, we employed the principal component analysis to highlight multidimensional nature of heterogeneity of the vast rural space in Serbia. The effort to encompass multidimensionality of rurality is made by engaging numerous demographic, economic, agricultural, and infrastructure indicators in the analysis. The results of this research indicate regions with different developing trajectories: Southwest Serbia with predominant demographic dimension; Northern part of Serbia with stressed agricultural orientation and potential; dispersed economically propulsive regions mainly located in the areas adjacent to major transport infrastructure; and regions with overrepresented urban structures where sprawl of urban influence is obvious in most rural municipalities near larger cities. The resulting principal components could be the starting point in defining appropriate planning strategies and developing directions based on the analyzed rural particularities.