| Summary: | Based on the analyses of sociologists, historians, economists, demographers,
anthropologists, and based on author’s own research, the aim of the paper is
to point to the complex and dynamic sociospatial identity of contemporary
Belgrade in the context of urban and regional development of post-socialist
Serbia. The analytical framework includes, first of all, the definition of
the city’s identity in terms of self-awareness of a city as sociospatial
collectivity, which historically originates and develops in dependency which
the city and the individuals in it establish in relationships with other
cities. It then cites the various concepts by means of which identity of the
modern city is constructed: the entrepreneurial city (Harvey), the creative
city (Florida and Landry), the exciting city (Richards and Palmer), the city
as a text (Radović), a competitive identity of the city (Anholt) and so on.
In particular, Belgradization as a process of concentration of money and
power in the capital is analyzed and it is concluded that the network of
Serbian cities is pyramidal, that the regionalization of Serbia is
asymmetric, and that Belgrade is a primate city, too big and too powerful for
Serbia i.e. that Belgradization increases regional imbalance in Serbia. The
paper concludes with an optimistic assessment that Belgrade, despite numerous
problems in its development, has the potential to become the „European
Capital of Culture” in 2020. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije,
br. 179035: Izazovi nove društvene integracije: koncepti i akteri]
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