The British artist is expected to receive the title at a ceremony in Sarajevo on November 25.
The City Council said that its decision was based on a proposal by the Sarajevo art association "Concept Media", which said that in December 1994 Dickinson visited the then besieged city and held a concert with three members of his band.
"It was a concert that restored hope to people and made them believe that they were not alone. A concert that brought a breeze of peace to the destroyed city. Together with his band, Bruce gave the people of Sarajevo a concert that is difficult to believe even today. But he also gave them something much more important. He gave them hope and showed them that they were not alone," reads the text accompanying the proposal to honour Dickinson with the title of honorary citizen.
"People believed him. For some the concert was the beginning of the end of the siege of the city, a sign that better times were coming when those moments of peace would be a constant and when we would be able to remember that concert as well," reads the text.
The concert was later described in a documentary called "Scream for me Sarajevo" by Tarik Hodzic, which has won a number of awards.
Dickinson speaks of his visit to Sarajevo in his book "What Does This Button Do?"