Topographic and lithologic controls behind mountain depopulation in Zlatibor District (Western Serbia)

Abstract

Mountain depopulation is a worldwide phenomenon observed in all continents. It has varied socioeconomic reasons; among others, the low profitability of traditional agriculture, the better job possibilities and the higher level of services in urban settlements. However, it is often recognized that depopulation is related to natural factors such as elevation, slope or lithology. It is also observed that protected areas are frequently established in depopulated mountain regions. Their primary aim is the conservation of nature, but they may help tourism development as well. Tourism, in turn, may slow down or even reverse the process of depopulation. In this study, we investigate the impact of topographic and lithologic factors, namely of karst settings, on mountain demographic processes and the relationship of protected areas and tourism through the example of the northern part of Zlatibor District (Western Serbia). The study area is characterized by mountains and hills at elevations from 200 to 1600 m a.s.l. Our aim is to find GIS-based statistical relationships between topographic, lithologic factors and demographic characteristics. In this area, mountain depopulation started after WWII, and we proved that this process was strongly controlled by topographic factors. The higher and more dissected the area, the more significant is the decrease of the population and the more advanced is the ageing. As a result, population density contrasts are much more pronounced now than 70 years ago. After WWII, depopulation and ageing became gradually more serious on karstic terrains than on non-karst. However, by using compound topographic and lithologic types, we proved that it is not the effect of karst, but the effect of topography. The flow of population from hills and mountains to valleys and basins are closely related to the restructuring of the economic sectors. At present, for the study area, the development of tourism is unequivocally naturebased and connected to protected areas, namely to Tara National Park, Zlatibor Nature Park and Šargan-Mokra Gora Nature Park. In this paper, we also demonstrate how lithology influences tourism possibilities. The leading role of Zlatibor in tourism development is largely thanks to its favourable position on a main transit route.

Terras comunitárias em Portugal: entre o despovoamento e a perspetiva de desenvolvimento

“…O despovoamento de regiões do interior e de áreas rurais de países europeus constitui-se, desde o século passado, como fenómeno social, económico e ambiental mediado por relações de poder, conhecimento e estrutura de propriedade (Ferrão, 2018), o que gerou uma desvalorização do modo de vida rural e a ascensão das áreas urbanas industrializadas (Baptista, 2010: 161). Esta dinâmica foi impulsionada a partir das duas guerras mundiais no século XX (Telbisz et al, 2020) e teve por consequência um ritmo de produção e um consumo exacerbados, frutos das ideologias da globalização (Santos, 2001: 24-25). Este movimento global trouxe como resultado o atual quadro de crise ambiental e o impulsionamento do desequilíbrio demográfico territorial, como pode ser observado na Europa e, especificamente, em Portugal, com o abandono do interior e a concentração populacional nos centros urbanos.…”

Inland-coastal demographic transformations in a karst area: a case study of the surroundings of Krka National Park (Croatia)

“…The relationship between topographic, geological, hydrographic factors and certain demographic characteristics has already been studied in a number of areas, including the Sudety Mountains in Poland (Latocha 2012), Montenegro (Telbisz et al 2014), the Gömör-Torna Karst in Hungary and Slovakia (Telbisz et al 2015), the Apuseni Mountains in Romania (Telbisz et al 2016), Kastamonu Forest in Turkey (Buğday and Özden 2017), the Caucasus (Kohler et al 2017), the Sarajevo Region in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Lukić-Tanović et al 2019), and Zlatibor and Tara mountains in Western Serbia (Telbisz et al 2020a). Based on the aforementioned, it can be stated that there is often a medium or even strong statistical relationship between elevation and population density, or between elevation and population change.…”

Planning and layout of tourism and leisure facilities based on POI big data and machine learning

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