engleski

Guardians of urban public spaces: how green markets enhance the notion of sustainability

Sustainability has become one of the most popular discourses of our societies. Importance of sustainability arises from the fact that societies are facing numerous (especially ecological) risks. But there is no universal recipe for achieving sustainability. In fact, sustainability is being oriented towards locality - public places of living, working and recreation where the idea of sustainability reaches full purposefulness especially for urban citizens. Seeking sustainability on local levels is justified by the fact that our communities are spatially, ecologically and culturally specific and in which individuals have specific needs and demands. In these circumstances, the question of attitudes towards transforming potentials of public spaces becomes one of the key determinants of development strategies (Auclair & Fairclough, 2015). From the reflections of Max Weber to contemporary urban studies, green markets are most central and resilient public spaces, drivers of the development of urbs which encourages us to analyze them as important locality connecting it with new postmodern and sustainable city paradigm (Seale, 2018 ; Visconti, Minowa & Maclaran, 2014 ; Watson, 2009). Its central place in city structure means the green markets are strongly embedded in urban identity, providing idea of urban community as a place of everyday social interaction, space of exchange and diversity. Bearing this in mind, we will argue that green markets have the potential to become creative and sustainable public spaces due to their potential to be green literally as well as conceptually. To test our hypothesis, we explored citizen’s perceptions and attitudes towards green markets as public spaces important to community sustainability. This research was conducted in the two largest cities in Croatia (Zagreb and Split) using a quantitative research methodology. The results broadly confirmed that green market is compatible with the principles of postmodern urbanism, such as sustainability, participation, social inclusion, and the potential for social innovation.

Sustainability ; Local community ; Green markets ; Urban public spaces

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