Sarajevo – Potential and Limitations in the Development of the City and Region

Abstract

Observing through the historical prism of regional development and regionalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, city and region of Sarajevo have special importance and significance. This is mainly due to the fact that the City of Sarajevo is the main administrative center, i.e. the center of political, economic, cultural and overall social life and development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, the Sarajevo is the center of Canton of Sarajevo, the center of this macro-region, as well as it is the capital of the entity of the Federation and state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All those facts make Sarajevo attractive both for life and business, furthermore for studying its capacity and development potentials as well.

In modern economics, the regions represent an important development level, while regionalisation represent an essentional component of the political systems of the modern state. The regions have become a link between local and central (state) institutions of government and local and overall economic development of country. The Bosnia and Herzegovina has a long tradition of regionalization and regionalism. Over long time, it has gone through verious phases and forms of regionalisation depening on then chraging political order. Sarajevo as a city and the region has historicaly developed in two directions. First, towards the capital of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the main administrative center. Secondly, towards the center of the region, i.e. the macro-region. Sarajevo macro-region is the most developed region in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of overall infrastructure and resources bacause of its normative, social importance and the position of the city itself. The territory covered by the Sarajevo macro-region has significant natural resources, energy potentials, as well as resources for the development of industry. Truistically, along with Mostar, it is a most impressive destination for tourists. Nevertheless, this macroregion still does not fully exploit the resources available to it, due to the many limitations and obsticles that directly affect it and that require adequate resolution.