Čukarica

Čukarica Чукарица
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms
Location within the City of Belgrade
Location within Serbia
Country	Serbia
City	Belgrade
Status	Municipality
Settlements	8
Government
– Type	Municipality of Belgrade
– Mun. president	Milan Tlačinac (DS)
Area
– Total	155 km2 (59.8 sq mi)
Population (2002)
– Total	168,508
– Density	1,118/km2 (2,895.6/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	11000
Area code(s)	+381 11
Car plates	BG
Website	www.cukarica.rs

Čukarica (Serbian Cyrillic: Чукарица, pronounced [t͡ʃukǎrit͡sa]) is an urban neighborhood and one of the 17 municipalities than constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

Municipality

Neighbourhoods

Municipality of Čukarica covers an area of 155 square kilometers (60 sq mi) and it is divided in the urban and suburban part.

Urban part of the municipality is completely within the Belgrade City proper, comprising many neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods, some of which used to be separate towns until the 1970s before Belgrade expanded that much to make urban connection to them (Žarkovo, Železnik):

Ada Ciganlija Banovo Brdo Bele Vode Careva Ćuprija

Cerak Cerak II Cerak Vinogradi Čukarica Čukarička Padina

Filmski Grad Golf Naselje Julino Brdo Košutnjak Makiš

Novi Železnik Orlovača Repište Rupčine Stari Cerak

Sunčana Padina Sporski Centar Žarkovo Žarkovo Selo Železnik Železnik Selo

The suburban part comprises seven suburban settlements, four of them classified as urban and three as rural settlements:

Urban: Ostružnica Umka Velika Moštanica

Rural: Gorica Rušanj Sremčica Pećani Rucka

Population

Municipality has a population of 168,508 (Census 2002), with and estimated 175,057 on 31 December 2005. That makes Čukarica the second most populous municipality of Belgrade (after Novi Beograd), but it is also the fastest growing one in terms of absolute growth of population (in relative, about 1,05% annually). Despite having also a rural part, the municipality is very densely populated— 1,118 /km² (2,900 /sq mi).

Population of the municipality:

• 1961 - 53,060
• 1971 - 102,189
• 1981 - 132,123
• 1991 - 150,257
• 2002 - 168,508
• 2005 - 175,057

Ethnic structure (2002): Serbs 91,3%, Montenegrins 1,4%, Roma 1,1%, Yugoslavs 1,1%, ethnic Macedonians 0,5%, Croats 0,5%.

Location and Importance

Čukarica is completely surrounded by other municipalities of Belgrade: it is bordered by the Sava river to the west, municipalities of Savski Venac to the north and northeast, Rakovica to the east, Voždovac to the southeast, Barajevo to the south and Obrenovac to the southwest.

Municipality is located southwest from the downtown Belgrade. It comprises the vast marshy woods of Makiš, on the eastern bank of the Sava river and the largest river island in Belgrade, Ada Ciganlija. At the suburb of Sremčica, Beogradski merokras, the most northern terrain made of limestone (karst) is located.

Several of the most important roads in western Serbia start here, Ibarska magistrala, Savska magistrala, Obrenovački put, etc. Also, the largest and most important freight train station and marshalling yard in the area and the main installations of the Belgrade waterworks, including the water factory, are located in the municipality (Makiš).

Čukarica was the first part of Belgrade that developed industry, in the late XIX and early 20th century and still is one of the most industrialized parts of Belgrade (Železnik, Žarkovo, Bele Vode), with commercial sections of the municipalities booming in the last 20 years (Banovo Brdo).

The officially longest street in Belgrade, Obrenovački put (Obrenovac road) is located in the municipality. According to the Belgrade's Directory for the roads, it is 11 kilometers long.^[1] However, as the road passes through the forests and mainly uninhabited areas and stretches outside the urban Belgrade City proper (uža teritorija grada), most Belgraders consider the 7,5 kilometers long Bulevar kralja Aleksandra to be the longest street. While Obrenovac road runs only through one municipality (Čukarica), Bulevar kralja Aleksandra connects four of them: Stari Grad, Vračar, Palilula and Zvezdara.

History

Municipality of Čukarica was established for the first time on 30 December 1911. After World War II when Belgrade municipalities were abolished and city divided in districts (rejon/рејон), Čukarica was part of Rejon VII 1945-50. Municipality was re-established in 1957. In 1960. the neighboring municipalities of Umka and Rakovica were incorporated into Čukarica, but Rakovica became separate municipality again in 1974.

Recent presidents of the municipal assembly:

• 1989 - 1992; Predrag Petrović (1950)
• 1992 - Feb 1997; Vladimir Matić (1957)
• Feb 1997 - 18 Nov 2004; Zoran Alimpić (1965)
• 18 Nov 2004–present; Dragan Tešić (1960)

Neighborhood

The neighborhood of Čukarica, which gave the name to the entire municipality, is located on a hill above the eastern bank of the Sava river. It is bordered by Careva Ćuprija and Senjak to the north, Banovo Brdo to the east, Julino Brdo to the south and Makiš, Ada Ciganlija and the Čukarica Bay of the Sava river to the west. The westernmost part of the neighborhood, on the western slopes of the hill, is known as Čukarička Padina. It had a population of 7,068 in 2002 (17,788 including Čukarička Padina).

International cooperation

Čukarica is twinned with following cities and municipalities^[2]:

• Berane, Montenegro
• Kumanovo, Republic of Macedonia
• Ovcha kupel, Bulgaria
• Staré Mesto, Slovakia
• Sykies, Greece
• Southern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, Russia

See also

• Subdivisions of Belgrade
• List of Belgrade neighborhoods and suburbs

References

1. ^ Politika, April 26, 2008, p.30
2. ^ [1] Stalna konferencija gradova i opština. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.

External links

• Municipality of Čukarica

Coordinates: 44°47′N 20°25′E / 44.783°N 20.417°E / 44.783; 20.417