Defining urban regions in Serbia

The purpose of this paper is to examine the coverage of Serbia's national territory with urban regions. In order to acquire the status of an urban region, a city and its surrounding area have to meet certain criteria. There is a set of criteria that apply to cities as the centres of urban regions, and there is another set of criteria relating to the settlements in their surroundings. The analysis and evaluation of the characteristics of a selected set of urban regions are very important both for urban geographical research and the planning of spatial and functional relations and links, as well as the management of regional development in Serbia