THE EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION ON SOIL RESOURCES IN SITNICA RIVER BASIN, KOSOVO

Sitnica River basin lies mostly in Kosovo Plain where the most fertile soils in entire Kosovo are. In the plain, lands are characterized by high fertility, thus they have a great potential for agricultural development. The vicinity parts of the basin lies in the hilly mountainous areas where soils have low fertility. Sitnica River is characterized by good natural conditions, which has led to most densely populated area in Kosovo. Rapid extension of urban and rural settlements has made changes in land cover; agricultural lands are excluded from primary use, and agricultural capacity is reduced with increasing of settlements in lands with high quality. This area was faced with uncontrolled urbanization, which has led to the degradation of agricultural land and changes in river basin, where in some cases floods are caused or the flood’s risk is increased. In this study, Sitnica River basin (Kosovo) will be treated in different ways, such as morphology and water flows, soil resources, land use changes and the paper will give a contribution towards sustainable urbanization of settlements in order to preserve soil resources. In the study, there will be used aerial images and maps of different years, census data, to treat the problems in the Sitnica River basin.