Acquiring a set of scientifically funded, precisely formulated and systematized knowledge of human settlements, with all their relevant features; Explanation and understanding of the rules of development and distribution of permanent and temporary settlements, including contemporary socio-economic processes and their geospatial effects; Examining and interpreting perspective trends in the development and distribution of human settlements, etc.

Development of students’ skills necessary for active participation in building humane relations in rural and urban environment, as well as in improving the quality of life in all types of settlements; Training students for creative and constructive activity in different areas of spatial planning.

Theoretical lectures

1) Introduction to geography of settlements. – Emergence and development in the development of the geographical aspect of the study of human settlements. Integrational and disintegrational trends in the development of the geographical aspect of the study of settlements. Subject, scientific goals and social tasks of the geography of settlements. Division of the geography of settlements. The relation between the geography of settlements, related sciences and different areas of social practice. Contemporary trends in the study and spatial organization of settlements: echistics and geography, echistics and economy, echistics and sociology, Eurostat’s recommendations for the population census around 2000, and others. Perspectives of development of the geography of settlements; 2) The concept and basic types of human settlements. Aspects and approaches in the study of settlements. Relevant geographical features of settlements. General features of spatial organization of human settlements in the world and some its parts. Unplanned and forceful displacement of human settlements; 3) Settlements and contemporary socio-economic processes. Synchronization and complementarity in the development of socio-economic processes; 4) Rural settlements. - Definition of a village and rural territory. Traditional and contemporary study of rural settlements. Main features of rural settlements, territory and production. Typology of rural settlements. Rural settlements as centres of development. Convergent and divergent daily migrations of rural population. Spatial-functional connection of rural settlements; 5) City settlements. - Concept and division of cities. Development of urban geographical studies. Boundaries of a city. Demographic, morpho-physiognomic and functional features of a city. Urban Territories. Division of urban territories. Urban functional zonality. Urban traffic. Convergent and divergent daily migrations of urban population. The focal role of a city. Urban gravitational areals and spheres; 6) Networks and systems of human settlements. - Determinants and main features of the network and settlement system. The network of central settlements. Megalopolitan, macroregional, mesoregional and local settlement systems; 7) Perspectives of development of settlements on the Earth’s surface and in our country. - Ecumenopolis. Demographic, physiognomic and functional aspects of the development of ecumenopolis.

Practical lectures

1) A comparative overview and analysis of criteria for determining the status of permanent settlements, in some countries in Europe, in the world and in our country after the Second World War. Analysis of the recommendations of Eurostat (1998) in the field of defining settlements and the possibility of applying in the organization of the network of settlements in Serbia. Sources of settlement information; 2) Different guidelines for studying of settlements; 3) Directory of settlements and names of parts of urban and rural settlements. Determination of the micro position and geographical position of a village. Calculation of the settlement density, population density and geographical distance in the settlement network. Cartographic presentation and general socio-geographical analysis of the hypsometric and zonal distribution of settlements, as well as territorial grouping and dispersion of settlements; 4) Determination of the boundaries, forms, functional zones of settlements, municipal and urban territories on topographic maps using administrative-territorial maps and corresponding urban plans, including the dynamics of physiognomic development of rural and urban settlements; 5) Comparative analysis and cartographic processing of demographic features and spatial-functional organization of the network of settlements; 6) Study of spatial and functional relations and connections in a network of settlements. Examples in the study of the gravitational orientation of settlements, determination of gravitational areals and spheres, etc. Practical work is organized as field work specific tasks.

Srboljub Đ. Stamenković, Milan Bačević: Geografija naselja, Univerzitetski udžbenik, Geografski fakultet PMF Univerziteta u Beogradu, Beograd, 1992.;

Milan Vresk: Grad i urbanizacija, Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 2002.; Slobodan Ćurčić: Geografija naselja, PMF, Institut za geografiju, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu, Novi Sad, 1992.;

Mi­lan Vresk: Grad u re­gi­o­nal­nom i ur­ba­nom pla­ni­ra­nju, Škol­ska knji­ga, Za­greb, 1990.;

Milan Vresk: Osnove urbane geografije, Škol­ska knji­ga, Za­greb, 1990.;

Harold Carter: The Study of urban geography. London, New York, Sydney, Auckland: Arnold;

Mi­lo­rad B. Ri­bar, Đor­đe R. Si­mo­no­vić: Ure­đe­nje se­o­skih te­ri­to­ri­ja i na­se­lja, Ar­hi­tek­ton­ski fa­kul­tet Uni­ver­zi­te­ta u Be­o­gra­du, Be­o­grad, 1993.;

Ge­o­graf­ska en­ci­klo­pe­di­ja na­se­lja Sr­bi­je, knj. I (A – Đ), II (Ž – Lj), III (M – R) i IV (S – Š), Ge­o­graf­ski fa­kul­tet, Age­na, Struč­na knji­ga i Sr­bo­soft, Be­o­grad, 2001, 2002. (štam­pa­no iz­da­nje) i 2004. (elek­tron­sko iz­da­nje).;

Ge­o­graf­ska en­ci­klo­pe­di­ja na­se­lja Sr­bi­je – Voj­vo­di­na, knj. I, Ge­o­graf­ski fa­kul­tet Uni­ver­zi­te­ta u Be­o­gra­du, Be­o­grad, 2005.