Subdivisions of Belgrade

Subdivisions of Belgrade

The city of Belgrade is divided into 17 municipalities.^[1]

Most of the municipalities are situated on the southern side of the Danube and Sava rivers, in the Šumadija region. Three municipalities (Zemun, Novi Beograd, and Surčin) are on the northern bank of the Sava, in the Syrmia region, and the municipality of Palilula, spanning the Danube, is in both the Šumadija and Banat regions.

Municipalities

		Municipality	Area [km²]	2011 census	2016 estimate[2]
1.		Stari Grad	7	7004480610000000000♠48,061	7004463820000000000♠46,382
2.		Savski Venac	16	7004386600000000000♠38,660	7004367390000000000♠36,739
3.		Vračar	3	7004554630000000000♠55,463	7004573430000000000♠57,343
4.		Novi Beograd	41	7005212104000000000♠212,104	7005214132000000000♠214,132
5.		Čukarica	155	7005179031000000000♠179,031	7005178009000000000♠178,009
6.		Rakovica	29	7005108413000000000♠108,413	7005108710000000000♠108,710
7.		Voždovac	150	7005157152000000000♠157,152	7005167331000000000♠167,331
8.		Zvezdara	31	7005148014000000000♠148,014	7005161340000000000♠161,340
9.		Zemun	154	7005166292000000000♠166,292	7005172803000000000♠172,803
10.		Palilula	447	7005170593000000000♠170,593	7005180081000000000♠180,081
11.		Surčin	285	7004420120000000000♠42,012	7004458870000000000♠45,887
12.		Obrenovac	411	7004714190000000000♠71,419	7004722460000000000♠72,246
13.		Barajevo	213	7004246410000000000♠24,641	7004270240000000000♠27,024
14.		Sopot	271	7004201990000000000♠20,199	7004200020000000000♠20,002
15.		Grocka	289	7004833980000000000♠83,398	7004860990000000000♠86,099
16.		Lazarevac	384	7004582240000000000♠58,224	7004574440000000000♠57,444
17.		Mladenovac	339	7004530500000000000♠53,050	7004523900000000000♠52,390
Total			3,225	7006165944000000000♠1,659,440	7006168396200000000♠1,683,962

Governmental structure

A municipality is a part of the territory of the City of Belgrade, in which certain operations of local self-government laid down by the City Charter are run. Pursuant to the Constitution, legislation, present Charter and bylaws of the municipality, the citizens participate in conducting operations of the municipality through the councilors elected to the municipal assembly, civil initiative, local citizens’ meeting and referendum.

The bodies of the municipality are:

• Municipal Assembly
• Municipal Council

The number of councilors in the Municipal Assembly ranges from 19 to 75 councilors.

The District Council Chairman presides over the Municipal Assembly, and he/she is a chairperson of the Municipal Council. The Municipal Assembly elects the District Council Chairman among the municipal councilors.

The Municipal Council is composed of the District Council Chairman, Deputy District Council Chairman and at the most 7 members. The Municipal Council members are elected by the Municipal Assembly among both councilors and citizens further to the proposal by the District Council Chairman.

History

During the Austrian occupation of northern Serbia 1718-1739, Belgrade was divided by the governing Austrian authorities on 6 districts: Fortress, Serbian town (modern Kosančićev Venac, German town (modern Dorćol), Lower Serbian town (Savamala), Karlstadt (Palilula) and the Great military hospital (Terazije-Tašmajdan).^[3]

Administration of Belgrade City was established in 1839, according to the Law on the organization of municipalities. In 1841 the administration was made independent from the Ministry of interior, though the government still supervised the courts, police and administration.^[4] First proposal for the town's subdivision into the quarters originates from 1847. It envisioned 6 quarters: Metropolitan, Zerek (Dorćol), Savamala, Terazije, Palilula and Vračar.^[3]

In December 1859, mayor of Belgrade, at that time called "city administrator", Nikola Hristić, suggested the division of Belgrade into quarters, which would move the city further from the oriental way of administration and mark the beginning of the modern, European way of local governing. Ministry of interior forwarded his request to the State Council and to Prince of Serbia Miloš Obrenović. They accepted the proposition and on 5 September [O.S. 24 July] 1860, Prince Miloš signed ukaz by which Belgrade, with some 3,000 houses at the time, was divided into six quarters. The quarters were sub-areal organs of the municipal administration and had certain jurisdiction over political and public security, construction, administrative works, education, health care, social care, etc.^[5] By the 1883 census, the city had a population of 36,177, or by the quarters: Palilula 7,118, Terazije 6,333, Vračar 5,965, Dorćol 5,728, Savamala 5,547 and Varoš 4,519. Remaining 767 inhabitants lived in Topčider, which wasn't organized as a quarter.^[6][7] Additional quarter called Grad (Town), which occupied the fortress area while it was inhabited, existed between the censuses of 1890 and 1910.^[8]

After the May Coup, a new law was adopted on 18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1903 which created a modern local self-governance. The city was administered by the cabinet of the president of the municipality, with offices for different aspects of city life, like modern secretariats. Two specific directories were the one for the trams and another for the social and health care.^[4] Still, the division on six quarters remained until the Austro-German occupation of the city in 1915, during World War I. After the liberation in 1918, city was administratively expanded to include its outer suburbs Dušanovac, Voždovac, Topčider and Čukarica.^[5]

Quarters of Belgrade by the censues:^{[7][8][9][10]}

In 1922 a new statute envisioned a regular elections for the city assembly every 3 years. Winning party would de allocated two thirds of the seats, while the rest would be divided among the opposition parties, using the proportional system. After the 6 January Dictatorship was introduced by the king Alexander I of Yugoslavia in 1929, part of the 1922 statute was abolished and the opposition's third in the city assembly was allocated by the prerogative of the Minister of the Interior. Administratively, area of Belgrade was expanded.^[4] Towns of Zemun, across the Sava, and Pančevo, across the Danube, were annexed to the city territory on 4 October 1929,^[11] forming the Administration of Belgrade City, but remained separate settlements. Zemun lost its separate status and became part of the Belgrade settlement in 1934.^[12] The area of the city was divided into 14 quarters (including the original 6),^[5] for the purposes of the more effective administration, police and courts.^[4] In 1935 3 additional quarters were formed, lifting the total number to 17.^[4]

After the World War II liberation in 1944, new Communist authorities abolished the quarters on formed 14 raions. They were later merged, leaving a total of 7 raions. Administratively, Belgrade consisted of the City of Belgrade, which covered the urban area (divided into raions), and the Zemun and Vračar districts (srez), which covered the suburban areas. As the city expanded, almost entire area of the Vračar District today also makes urban section.^[4]

In May 1952 the city was reorganized in 23 municipalities: 14 urban (Voždovac, Vračar, Zvezdara, Lekino Brdo, Neimar, New Belgrade, Palilula, Savski Venac, Skadarlija, Stari Grad, Stari Đeram, Terazije, Topčidersko Brdo, Čukarica); 8 suburban (Bežanija, Borča, Žarkovo, Železnik, Krnjača, Ovča, Padinska Skela, Rakovica); and municipality of Zemun.^[4] On 1 September 1955 Vračar was divided into East Vračar and West Vračar and the municipality of Karaburma was created, lifting the number of municipalities to 25. In 1955, parts of the Zemun, Vračar and Podunavlje districts merged into the new, Belgrade District, which encircled the urban area of the city and consisted of 35 municipalities. At this point, the area was enlarged to 2,090 km².^[14][15][16]

Since then, municipalities were being merged, abolished an annexed. In July 1955 many municipalities, especially from the Belgrade District, have been annexed to the municipalities. For example:^[14]

• Čukarica (Železnik, Žarkovo)
• Krnjača (Borča, Ovča, Padinska Skela)
• New Belgrade (Bežanija)
• Voždovac (Beli Potok, Jajinci, Kumodraž, Pinosava)
• Zvezdara (Mali Mokri Lug, Kaluđerica, Leštane, Vinča, Mirijevo)

Enlargement of the municipalities continued by the reorganization on 3 January 1957:^[14]

• Palilula (Karaburma, Višnjica)
• Savski Venac (West Vračar, Topčidersko Brdo)
• Stari Grad (Skadarlija, part of Terazije)
• Voždovac (Lekino Brdo)
• Vračar (recreated; East Vračar, Neimar, part of Terazije)
• Zvezdara (Stari Đeram)

After the 1955/58 reorganization of municipalities and districts, Barajevo, Obrenovac, Sopot and Grocka became parts of Belgrade. Further changes by 1960 included:^[14][15][16]

• Barajevo (Arnajevo, Baćevac, Beljina, Boždarevac, Lisović, Veliki Borak, Vranić)
• Čukarica (Rakovica, Velika Moštanica, Umka, Sremčica, Rušanj, Ostružnica, Resnik)
• Grocka (Begaljica, Boleč, Brestovik, Vrčin, Zaklopača; former municipalities of Kaluđerica, Leštane and Vinča detached from Zvezdara and annexed to Grocka)
• Obrenovac (Barič, Draževac, Dren, Grabovac, Konatice, Ljubinić, Mala Moštanica, Mislođin, Orašac, Piroman, Poljane, Ratari, Skela, Stubline, Trstenica, Urovci, Ušće, Veliko Polje, Vukićevica, Zabrežje, Zvečka)
• Palilula (Veliko Selo)
• Sopot (Babe, Guberevac, Dučina, Drlupa, Đurinci, Mala Ivanča, Mali Požarevac, Nemenikuće, Parcani, Popović, Ralja, Rogača, Sibnica, Stojnik)
• Surčin (Bečmen, Boljevci, Dobanovci, Jakovo, Petrovčić, Progar)
• Voždovac (Ripanj, Zuce; former municipality of Veliki Mokri Lug detached and annexed to Zvezdara)
• Zemun (Batajnica, Ugrinovci)
• Zvezdara (former municipalities of Kaluđerica, Leštane and Vinča detached and annexed to Grocka; former municipality of Veliki Mokri Lug detached from Voždovac and annexed to Zvezdara)

By the constitutional reforms in 1963, People's Boards, which administered the municipalities were transformed into the Municipal Assemblies.^[5] By that time, Belgrade consisted of 15 municipalities: Barajevo, Čukarica, Grocka, Krnјаča, New Belgrade, Obrenovac, Palilula, Savski Venac, Sopot, Stari Grad, Surčin, Voždovac, Vračar, Zemun and Zvezdara. In 1965 municipalities of Surčin (annexed to Zemun) and Krnjača (annexed to Palilula) were abolished, reducing the number of municipalities to 13. Additionally, with the abolishment of Kolari municipality and its division between Smederevo and Grocka, former municipalities of Umčari, Pudarci and Kamendol were annexed to Grocka and, thus, to Belgrade. Municipalities of Lazarevac (14) and Mladenovac (15) were added in 1971, finishing the formation of the present city territory. Rakovica (16) was reestablished in 1974 after splitting from Čukarica, while Surčin (17) split from Zemun in 2003.

Development of the Belgrade administrative division by the census years:^[15][16][17]

Today

Since 2006, all municipalities which constitute the cities are officially named “city municipalities”, so all 17 municipalities of the City of Belgrade were legally renamed (City municipality of Zemun, City municipality of Sopot, etc.).^[5] The name is administrative and same for all municipalities, regardless of the statistical (urban/rural) or practical and colloquial division (urban/suburban).

As of 2018, there are:^[17]

• 6 municipalities which are fully urban and integrated into the Belgrade as a settlement (New Belgrade, Rakovica, Stari Grad, Savski Venac, Zvezdara, Vračar)
• 4 municipalities which are partially urban/integrated and partially suburban, including rural areas (Palilula, Zemun, Voždovac, Čukarica)
• 6 municipalities which are suburban, with both urban (usually municipal seats) and rural settlements (Obrenovac, Lazarevac, Sopot, Grocka, Mladenovac, Surčin)
• 1 municipality which is suburban and fully rural (Barajevo)

See also

• List of Belgrade neighborhoods and suburbs
• List of former and proposed municipalities of Belgrade
• Municipalities of Serbia

References

Notes

Notes:

External links

• Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities