Variability of Suburban Preference in a Post-socialist Belgrade

Abstract

The debate over urban sprawl and its impacts is overarching and closely linked to voluntary or induced resettlement of population from the inner city or from other urban or rural settlements to the urban periphery. Residential preference drive of urban sprawl could diverse in post-socialist countries from a typical suburbanization process in the West. According to different age and income structure, people may look for the same amenities in their preferred type of neighborhood, yet the diversity of motives and the ability to fulfill the key aspirations explain a drive towards inner or peripheral city development. In this paper, a suburban case-study neighborhood in Belgrade metropolitan area was analyzed in terms of variability and continuity of residential preferences. Questionnaire survey has been conducted for obtaining the results on motives that drive people to settle in a suburban neighborhood, their satisfaction with life in it, and variability of suburban preference.