Novi Sad - Geography

Geography

The city lies on the S-shaped meander of the river Danube, which is only 350 meters wide beneath the Petrovaradin rock. A section of the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal marks the northern edge of wider city centre, and merges with the Danube. The main part of the city lies on the left bank of the Danube, in Bačka region, while smaller parts Petrovaradin and Sremska Kamenica lie on the right bank, in Srem (Syrmia) region. Bačka side of the city lies on one of the southern lowest parts of Pannonian Plain, while Fruška Gora side (Syrmia) is a horst mountain. Alluvial plains along Danube are well-formed, especially on the left bank, in some parts 10 km from the river. A large part of Novi Sad lies on a fluvial terrace with an elevation of 80–83 m (262.47–272.31 ft). The northern part of Fruška Gora is composed of massive landslide zones, but they are not active, except in the Ribnjak neighborhood (between Sremska Kamenica and Petrovaradin Fortress).

The total land area of the city is 699 km², while the urban area is 129.7 km².

Novi Sad is a typical Central European town. There are only a few buildings dating before 19th century, because the city was almost totally destroyed during the 1848/1849 revolution, so the architecture from 19th century dominates the city centre. Around the center, old small houses used to dominate the cityscape, but they are being replaced by modern multi-story buildings.

During the socialist period, new blocks with wide streets and multi-story buildings were built around the city core. However, not many communist-style high-rise buildings were built, and the total number of 10+ floor buildings remained at 40-50, most of the rest being 3-6 floor Apartment buildings. City's new boulevard (today's Bulevar oslobođenja) was cut through the old housings in 1962-1964, establishing major communication lines. Several more boulevards were subsequently built in a similar manner, creating an orthogonal network over what used to be mostly radial structure of the old town. Those interventions paved the way for a relatively unhampered growth of the city, which almost tripled its population since the 1950s, and traffic congestions (except on a few critical points) are still relatively mild despite the huge boost of car numbers, especially in later years.