Demographic Problems of West Herzegovina County and their impact on the morphological and functional changes of settlements

Abstract

<p>U radu se razmatraju demografski problemi regije Hercegovine s posebnim osvrtom na Zapadnohercegovačku županiju te njihov uticaj na morfolo&scaron;ko-funkcionalne promene naselja (gradova s pripadajućim naseljenim mestima) u pedesetogodi&scaron;njem &nbsp; vremenskom periodu,&nbsp; s naglaskom za vremenski period od&nbsp; 1961.&nbsp; do 2011. godine. &nbsp;Područje koje se analizira u ovome radu odnosi se na područje koje je funkcionalno vezano za Zapadnohercegovačku županiju, jednu od deset kantona/županija u FBiH. &nbsp;Proučavani prostor obuhvata 100 naseljenih mesta (četiri gradska naselja). U radu se analizira demografski razvitak, te međusobna povezanost demografskog i socio-ekonomskog razvitka naselja na području&nbsp;Zapadnohercegovačke županije te funkcionalno-morfolo&scaron;ke promene naselja. Zapadnohercegovačka županija tradicionalno je emigracijsko područje koje&nbsp;je već decenijama zahvaćeno procesom depopulacije. &Scaron;ire je područje značajnije počelo&nbsp;&nbsp; izumirati nakon Drugog svetskog rata, dok su&nbsp; gradski prostor i njegova okolina, inače centri imigracija, stvarali područja i žari&scaron;ta ekonomskog i op&scaron;teg razvitka Zapadnohercegovačke županije.&nbsp;Depopulaciju je u &nbsp;naseljenim mestima planinskog&nbsp; dela Županije (brdski prostori) pratilo napu&scaron;tanje tradicionalnih privrednih aktivnosti (u prvom redu zemljoradnje&nbsp; i stočarstva), do&scaron;lo je do pojave socijalnog pusto&scaron;enja, promena u krajoliku te&nbsp;izumiranja pojedinih naselja. Najznačajniji uticaj imali su znatno iseljavanje&nbsp; stanovni&scaron;tva u drugoj polovini 20. veka, direktne i indirektne posledice dvaju svetskih ratova, zatim različite epidemije, agrarna reforma, ekonomske krize koje su se u&nbsp;nekoliko navrata javljale tokom 20. veka. Tome su&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; pridoneli i ostali faktori, kao &scaron;to su ekonomska emigracija od sredine &scaron;ezdesetih godina 20. veka, urbanizacija, industrijalizacija te snažan razvitak sredi&scaron;njih i prigradskih &nbsp;naselja. Deagrarizacija i&nbsp;deruralizacija, tranzicija nataliteta, rat na području Bosne i Hercegovine u prvoj polovini devedesetih godina 20. veka, te neprimerena populaciona politika,&nbsp; ostavile su traga na ovim područjima.&nbsp; S obzirom na dominantne demografske trendove u&nbsp;Županiji može se pretpostaviti da će reprodukcija, odnosno obnavljanje radne snage u budućnosti biti smanjeno. Naime, na navedenu će činjenicu uticati smanjenje stope prirodnog kretanja stanovni&scaron;tva prisutno na području &nbsp;Zapadnohercegovačke županije&nbsp; već nekoliko decenija, &scaron;to znači da će se smanjenje broja mladih stanovnika negativno odraziti na obim radne snage.&nbsp;</p><p>Depopulacija ima negativne posledice na funkcije naselja te na morfologiju naselja. U pojedinim naseljima je do&scaron;lo do promene u njihovoj strukturi i obliku osnove naselja, a gotovo sva naselja u Županiji imaju promene u fizionomiji.</p>

<p>This paper discusses the demographic problems of the region Herzegovina with special reference to the West Herzegovina County and their impact on the morphological and functional changes of settlements (cities with the belonging populated areas) in fifty years time, with particular emphasis on the period&nbsp;from 1961 to 2011. The area that is analyzed in this paper refers to the area that is functionally related to the West Herzegovina County, one of ten cantons/counties in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The studied area covers 100 settlements (four &nbsp;urban settlements). The paper analyzes the demographic development andinterconnection of demographic and socio&nbsp; -economic development of settlements &nbsp;in theWest&nbsp; Herzegovina&nbsp; County and functional and morphological changes of settlements.</p><p>West Herzegovina County&nbsp; is a traditional&nbsp; emigration area that has been affected by the process of depopulation for decades. Wider area&nbsp;began depopulating after World &nbsp;War II, while the urban area and its surroundings,&nbsp; which arein fact&nbsp; immigration centers, were creating areas and foci of economic and general development of West Herzegovina County. Depopulation in settled places of mountainous part of the County (mountain areas)&nbsp; was followed by the abandonment of traditional economic activities (primarily agriculture and animal husbandry).&nbsp;There&nbsp; was&nbsp; considerable social fallow as well as changes in the landscape and the extinction of some settlements. The emigration in the second half of the 20th century, the direct and indirect consequences of the two world wars, then various epidemics, agrarian reform, &nbsp;economic crises that have occurred on several occasions during the 20th century had &nbsp;the most significant influence on the depopulation in this area. Some &nbsp;other factors, such as the economic emigration from the mid-sixties of the 20th century, urbanization, industrialization and a strong development of central and suburban areas, contributed to this as well. Deagrarization and deruralization, fertility transition, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first half of the nineties of the 20th &nbsp;century and inadequate population policy made their mark in this area.&nbsp;Concerning the dominant demographic trends in the County it can be assumed that the &nbsp;reproduction or recovery of the&nbsp; labor force in the future will be reduced. Namely, this fact will be&nbsp; affected by&nbsp; reduction in the rate of natural population&nbsp; growth that has been&nbsp; present in the area of&nbsp; West County for several decades, which&nbsp;means that the reduction in the &nbsp;number of young&nbsp;&nbsp; people has&nbsp; a negative impact on the volume of the &nbsp;labor force.</p><p>Depopulation has negative effects on the function of the village and the morphology of&nbsp;settlements. In some villages there is a change in their structure and form of the basics of the village, and almost all the villages in the County have a change in the &nbsp;physiognomy. The concentration of population and economic activities in urban and suburban area had also influence on the&nbsp; landscape change.&nbsp;Demographic processes, that have occurred in West County, affected the socio&nbsp; -&nbsp; economic,physiognomic and functional transformation of urban neighborhoods and some parts of the County.</p>