Sociology and Space, No. 35-36, 1972.
Original scientific paper
Certain aspects of the conflicting relations between town and village in Yugoslavia
Stipe Šuvar
Abstract
Although the current period has already produced the economic and technical
bases for equalizing the Way of life of the urban population with that of rural
inhabitants, even in the industrially most highly developed countries conflicts
between town and country are still very noticeable in daily life. In Yugoslavia
there exist both traditional bases of such conflicts and new ones which derive from
industrialization and urbanization.
The author discusses the following bases of the town-country conflicts in
Yugoslav contemporary society: low level of the rural-urban continuum; discrepancy
between the rate of urbanization and the rate of deagrarization (abandonment
of farming); crisis in the objectives of rural and urban developments; the
isolationist policy of urban areas in relation to rural areas; erroneous concepts
of progress in relations between town and country; lack of the practice of complex
spatial planning.
The author deals especially with the conflicting relations between town
and country in the economic, cultural and political spheres.
Discussing certain measures for reducing the conflict between town and
country in Yugoslav modern society, the author lists the following requirements:
— to pursue the policy of a planned development of the rural-urban continuum
which would ensure a more even distribution of social institutions and
achievements of civilization between urban centres and rural areas and discourage
excessive concentration in towns which are increasingly affected by the contradictions
arising from their own growth and the limitations of their own possibilities;
— to reduce the discrepancy between urbanization and deagrarization by
urbanizing life in the village rather than by a forced development of towns; this
also calls for a more just distribution of the respective social funds between urban
and rural communities;
— to determine the optimum growth of towns and define new bases for the
spatial organization of rural areas expanding urban interests over the whole space
rather than limiting them to the imaginary walls of towns;
— to lay down the objectives of rural development — not as a distant pro
grammatic ideal, but as concrete tasks for the immediate period, seeking primarily
to encourage and organize the still unexploited productive potentialities of the
village and create a more favourable basis for achieving parity between the incomes
of the rural and the urban populations;
— to bring about real changes in the economic system which will ensure the
prosperity of agriculture and promote the modernization of smallholdings;
— to ensure equal political participation of the rural population.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119626
URI
Publication date:
9.6.1972.
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