In the context of increasing calls for participatory and community-led development, understanding the extent to which legal frameworks enable bottom-up approaches is crucial. This paper examines the legislative framework governing spatial development in Serbia in order to identify legal possibilities for initiatives coming from nongovernmental actors. The research employs a content analysis of relevant legislative acts, followed by a second layer of analysis that focuses on the planning documents these laws prescribe and their interrelations at the operational level. The findings reveal that, while the legal framework formally allows the engagement of licensed professionals and legal entities, the initiation, financing, and control of development processes remain largely in the hands of state and local authorities. The only significant space for bottom-up development is found within the Law on Agriculture and Rural Development, through the LEADER program, which explicitly encourages community-led initiatives. In contrast, other legal provisions offer limited room for meaningful participation by non-governmental actors, highlighting a top-down orientation in Serbia?s development planning system.
Mitrovic et al. (2025) studied this question.