Uzice

Užice exists because the Đetinja River carved a defensible valley through western Serbia's mountains—and because regional capitals need somewhere to put their bureaucrats. As the administrative center of the Zlatibor District, Serbia's largest at 6,140 km², Užice commands a hinterland of ski resorts, health spas, and mountain agriculture. The city of 63,500 sits at the strategic crossroads between highland tourism and lowland manufacturing.

The economic story is one of reinvention. When Yugoslav-era factories closed, Užice pivoted to small-scale entrepreneurship: protective clothing manufacturers, food processors, and web-based commerce operators now occupy the economic space that heavy industry vacated. USAID's regional development agency works from here, coaching local companies toward export markets. The nearby Zlatibor mountain—with its 9-kilometer gondola and 100,000 New Year visitors—provides a tourism anchor that few Serbian regional capitals can match.

But regional coordination has limits. The Zlatibor District's quarter-million residents are scattered across municipalities with competing priorities; Užice's role as administrative hub doesn't automatically translate into economic gravity. By 2026, the question is whether the city can capture more value from Zlatibor's tourist boom and the region's emerging craft economy, or whether it remains a bureaucratic waystation for visitors heading to the mountains.