The typology of rural settlements is an actual issue that has been drawing the attention of Serbian scholars since the early 1900s, and which is slowly finding its place in practice and in creating the politics and strategies of rural development. The scientific approach and methods of conducting a typology have been significantly changed since the period when a distinction was made among rural settlements in Serbia for the first time. In this paper, the author chronologically and thematically guides us through this issue by giving an overview of the rural typologies in Serbian scholar literature, placing them in the recent rural studies in Serbia, emphasizing and following the evolution of the typological classification of rural settlements. The author starts with observations where the typology is treated as a method, and then develops an approach to typology as a scientific discipline and, in the end, as a tool for achieving adequate research goal and conclusions. This evolution path and thematic approach of rural typology are in the focus of the paper.

An architect and ruralist, professor and academician, Branislav Kojić made a remarkable contribution to the study of village architecture and villages, their design and planning. His approach was thorough, systematic, comprehensive and interdisciplinary, and resulted in the establishment of a special trend in the study of the village in these regions-"ruralism". His research had interregional aspect, encompassing space of all the six former republics of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, and with consideration of local and regional specificities. Creativity of Branislav Kojić united the elements of architecture, urbanism, ethnology, human geography, and allowed the filling of gaps in the former knowledge and approaches to rural issues. In order to present Branislav Kojić's scientific opus and contribution, the paper presents the basic lines of his work, thinking and development of ideas, following the hierarchy of spatial unitsfrom a rural house, a courtyard, through a village atar, a rural settlement, a system of settlements and a rural region, and finally to the villages in the regional spatial frames.

Abstract:The study presented in this paper deals with the definition and role of small towns in the spatial development of the Republic of Serbia. An analysis of the profiles of small towns was performed and they were compared based on their spatial and population characteristics. The aim of this study is to determine the role of small towns in the development of settlement networks and the balanced population development of a country as a whole by identifying their specific features and establishing a ranking of their importance in local and regional contexts.Key words: urban settlement, small town, role, SerbiaAbstrakt: Istraživanje u ovom radu odnosi se na problematiku malih gradova, njihovog definisanja i uloge u prostornom razvoju Republike Srbije. Izvršena je analiza I komparacija profila malih gradova kroz njihove prostorne i demografske karakteristike. Cilj rada je da odredi ulogu malih gradova u razvoju mreže naselja, kao i uravnoteženom populacionom razvoju zemlje, kroz sagledavanje njihovih specifičnosti i gradaciju značaja u lokalnim I regionalnim okvirima.

Long-term marginalization of villages has caused negative demographic trends in rural areas of Serbia, primarily through forceful de-population, unfavorable demographic structures and other structural problems. The term ?extinction? is the most often related to the recent appearance of demographic shrinkage and economic decline of villages. According to the last population census (2011), 13 settlements without permanent inhabitants have been recorded. The fact that about 1/3 of all settlements in rural Serbia is sparsely inhabited (less than 20 inh/km2) indicates that scales of demographic decline impacts are yet to be seen. The Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia (2010) advocates polycentric and balanced regional development. Creation of adequate instruments to mitigate demographic decline in rural areas requires clear definition of regional territorial units. Are they going to be NUTS 3 level, or functional urban areas, as spatially and functionally integrated areas which represent more suitable choice for addressing the issue of demographic and economic decline, or should concrete answers be looked for at the level of identified rural regions [Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia, 2010; National Program for Rural Development, 2011]? This paper will research these issues in the District of Zajecar with a good practice in Germany. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47007]

Rural tourism offers opportunity to local communities to oppose the process of rural abandonment. This study assesses the tourism potential of two almost depopulated villages in Serbia, Gostuša (Pirot) and Poganovo (Dimitrovgrad), and identifies their second-home tourism perspectives. They have similar geo-demographic characteristics, but different development patterns. A practical understanding of residents’ perception was gained along with identifying the socio-economic indicators. A comprehensive comparison is made to identify the diversification level of the rural economy in these villages. The study also assesses the rural capital and concludes that it is not realistic to expect fast and sustainable tourism development in these peripheral rural areas. Finally, the study extracts the factors of influence and predicts trends of the diversification process and second-home tourism expansion in rural areas of Balkan Mt.