## 1 Introduction  
This article focuses on the influence of social geographic factors on possible installation of renewable heating solutions in Serbia. Therefore, it takes in account legacies of post-socialist transitional society. Crucial point of interest is also air pollution which Serbia and neighbouring countries face every winter and which are largely caused by individual heating solutions powered by fossil fuels. Report of Serbian Environmental Protection Agency shows that small and individual heating solutions participate in emitting 57% of PM10 particles, as well as 75% of PM2.5 particles in Serbia [1]. Their replacement by renewable heating solutions would be an important step in reducing air pollution.  
Thus, there are two layers that should be considered. First, most of Serbian households do not have district heating and are therefore suitable terrain for introducing new heating systems. Mainly, those households are located in smaller Serbian towns and rural areas. Second, socio-economic development of Serbia is heterogeneous. This article tends to present results for an average environment which can be representative for other Serbian towns, as well as for countries with similar socio-economic structure. These two stances revealed Ub as a representative case-study for this research. Ub is a town which does not have district heating system, but mostly various individual heating solutions. According to the socio-economic spatial differentiation of Serbia, Ub is a municipality placed around average [2]. Additionally, on the traditional regional inequality gradients in the Republic of Serbia (These gradients include the following directions: (I) north-south; (II) centre-periphery; (III) and urban areas with closer surroundings--rural areas [2] (p. 97)) the municipality of Ub, with its geographical location and structural characteristics, is placed between extreme values.  
Ub is a small town in Serbia with population of around 6000. The entire Municipality of Ub which includes surrounding settlements has population of just over 29,000. While post-socialist geographical studies mostly address post-socialist capitals and major cities, this article tends to explore post-socialist trajectories in a small (semi-)peripheral town in a transitional environment. The example of Ub shows tendencies which should be applicable to other similar settings.  
Accordingly, this article elaborates possible utilization of very shallow geothermal potentials in the field of space (and district) heating. In addition to scientific literature and statistical reports, websites and online reports are used as sources for the purpose of this article. Authors conducted a survey with 40 households in Ub concerning their opinion about actual heating status and potentials for geothermal heating. Such approach was necessary in order to get an actual overview of the situation. Soil analysis was provided by the _ThermoMap_ Viewer (www.thermomap.eu) [3] which offered results presented in the article.  
After a brief presentation of geothermal energy potentials, as well as district heating systems worldwide and in Serbia, this article focuses on the case-study of Ub. One specific test field in the town of Ub is selected to examine possibilities for utilization of (very) shallow geothermal energy in the terms of heat conductivity. Finally, there is a discussion about the advantages, but also about the limits that must be overcome in order to build and exploit such a system. Results are presented through three level analysis--technical, economic, as well as social and political limitations. Some general courses and patterns, valid for the most transitional cases, are extracted at the end.