What We Mean when We Say… Decentralization as a Tool for Better Integration of the Rural Areas in Serbia
Decentralization is treated in this paper as a territorial issue and an effective instrument for reducing poverty and spatial inequalities. Fundamentally, the policy paper seeks to improve the development of rural areas by promoting polycentric spatial organization and the sub-local level of governance. This research is based on the identification of rural nodes, as settlements of certain capacities, recognized as actors in the process of planning and development of rural areas, bearers of micro-level management, as well as local networking. Accordingly, the methodological framework encompasses three successive steps: building a model for the identification of rural nodes, determination of the spatial distribution of rural nodes, and delimitation of their gravity sphere.
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