Kijevo () is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Rakovica.
Location
Kijevo is located between the southwestern slopes of the Straževica hill on the east, and the southeastern slopes of the Petlovo Brdo on the west. The neighborhood is situated in the central part of the municipality, on the mouth of the stream of Kijevski Potok into the Topčiderka river. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Petlovo Brdo on the west, Labudovo Brdo and Kneževac on the north and Resnik on the southeast. The neighborhood Sunčani Breg is located east of the Straževica hill and the quarry. Area south of Kijevo, the "Klik"' and "Šabinac" meadows, is still not urbanized.
The neighborhood is situated in the valley of the Topčiderka, south of downtown Belgrade, near the crossroad of the Ibar highway and the Kružni put, and the future, parallel, Belgrade beltway.
Geography
Originally, the area was suitable for tourism and was well known as an excursion location. The flowery meadows surrounded both the Kijevski Potok and Topčiderka, which in turn were bordered by the oak forests and agricultural fields. Later, the artificial Lake Kijevo was formed in the valley. However, by the 1960s all that disappeared. The settlement became more populous, the highway and the tunnel were built and the area was fully urbanized. The lake was drained, the forests were cut and the meadows and fields transformed in time into the marshland.
After the Lake Kijevo was created in 1901, lots around the lake were settled by the wealthy Belgrade citizens who build villas around the lake. Among the first was Moša Avram "Maca", proprietor of the first umbrella factory in Belgrade. His villa was later adapted into the first Kijevo elementary school and after the World War II became the seat of local branch of OZNA (Yugoslav security agency) for a while. The building was demolished in the 1960s.
Next wave of settlement in Kijevo began in 1953, coinciding with the massive shift of the local agricultural population which was settling in Belgrade. As Kijevo was at the time designated as the green area, and the building was restricted, the unplanned construction flourished. As there was a major shortage of apartments in the city, the settlers were buying the lots in Kijevo and built their own houses. In 1953-1960 period, 800 people moved into the settlement. It was decided to completely conduct the waterway into the underground pipes.
In time, the new section with high rise buildings differentiated itself as a separate neighborhood of Petlovo Brdo so today the name Kijevo applies only to the old part of the neighborhood.
Administration
Kijevo was a separate village until 1959 when it was incorporated into Kneževac, which in turn was incorporated into Belgrade in 1972.
Kijevo is today organized as "local community", a sub-municipal administrative unit. In 2010 the western section of the local community was detached and became part of the newly formed local community Petlovo Brdo.
Characteristics
In the urban and cadastral sense, Kijevo forms one unit with the neighboring Kneževac. Majority of the area of the former Kijevo settlement is today part of the Kneževac cadaster municipality, with a small part being added to the Resnik cadaster municipality.