Expression of regional identity in urban toponomy of major Kosovar cities

Abstract

This paper presents the model of identity research using the street names from five major Kosovar cities. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the fact that identity in the urban environment can be determined through the analysis of street names, to uncover the difference in the presence of hodonyms that express regional identity from those that express national identity, and to investigate the presence of urban toponyms of international importance. This paper also aims to examine the relationship between regional identity and ethnic and religious structure, as well as to identify the role of historical-political circumstances at the level of the manifestation of regional identity. We found that the regional identity has been expressed more deeply compared to the national and international hodonyms, which have a lower representation. Although regional hodonyms dominated in all cities that were analyzed, there were differences in the representation of regional hodonyms which were related to personalities, events, or geographical objects that belong to the respective city or surroundings.