Urban hierarchy inside a divided urban system of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Within the framework of the analysis of basic features of the urban system of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its insufficient development with the pronounced predominance of smaller urban settlements is highlighted (more than 65% of urban settlements have less than 10 000 inhabitants). Evident polarization in the urban system of Bosnia and Herzegovina is reflected in the very dynamic monocentrism of the capital city and the regional centers, which is further intensified by the consequences of the war through the resettlement of a large number of refugees and displaced persons. One of the main objectives of this paper is the realization of nature and the change in the level of the urban hierarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina by determining changes in urbanization and the present differences between urban settlements in a period longer than 30 years (1981-2013). A further analysis of the interdependence of the urban system of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the territorial organization has determined that the urban system of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not represent the basis of the formation of a new political-territorial organization. The dissolution of integrative urban development after 1991 has markedly negative tendencies in the development of the urban system, which has been shown in the last two decades.