Decentralization as a Cause of Spatial Segregation

Faculty of Architecture, University of Montenegro, 81 000, Podgorica

^a Corresponding author: aema@t-com.me

Abstract

City represents an incomplete dynamic process prone to the expansion with a causal link between urban expansion and socio-spatial segregation. The socio-spatial distribution in the city is mostly related to the increased social polarization and inequality. There is a clear connection between divided society and divided city: if society is divided, urban space must be divided. It is the question of the relations between the social inequalities on one hand, and spatial segregation on the other. In the last 10 years, Podgorica is the city that shows alarming statistic values when it comes to demographic trends and the influx of the residents from the northern municipalities, which necessarily causes the city sprawl. Past experiences show that city is unevenly expanding, creating new functions and zones expressed by socio-spatial differences. The beginning of this process lies in modernist conception of the city, by which city was mostly developed, while the current functional organization is based on the same concept. With the first urban plans, which carried similarproblems mentioned in previous section, Podgorica was divided into three clearly differentiated zones: Stara Varoš, Nova Varoš and Novi grad, which became a platform for hierarchical divisions within the space, reflecting them in the society.