Methodology of typological classification in the study of rural settlements in Serbia

The typology of rural settlements is an actual issue that has been drawing the attention of Serbian scholars since the early 1900s, and which is slowly finding its place in practice and in creating the politics and strategies of rural development. The scientific approach and methods of conducting a typology have been significantly changed since the period when a distinction was made among rural settlements in Serbia for the first time. In this paper, the author chronologically and thematically guides us through this issue by giving an overview of the rural typologies in Serbian scholar literature, placing them in the recent rural studies in Serbia, emphasizing and following the evolution of the typological classification of rural settlements. The author starts with observations where the typology is treated as a method, and then develops an approach to typology as a scientific discipline and, in the end, as a tool for achieving adequate research goal and conclusions. This evolution path and thematic approach of rural typology are in the focus of the paper.