engleski

Zagreb in transition: some semiotic reflections

The urban development of Zagreb over the last twenty-five years shows many features characteristic of the majority of European transition cities. However, the non-existence of a strategic plan of urban and spatial development, the lack and vagueness of legal regulations, the arbitrariness and non-transparency of the decision-making process which excludes the public, and the frequent modifications of spatial planning documents, generate unnecessary social conflicts. They are, on the one hand, undoubtedly the result of global processes, but on the other hand they are also the result of the lack of understanding and acceptance of the city’s identity, which is seen as a result of historical development, particularly rapid urbanization in the 19th century. In its defense we should perhaps invoke a tradition from that time, when private investors participated in designing city plans together with city authorities, listening to the pulse of the city and its inhabitants. Modernization and identity are not necessarily conflicted terms, but in order to achieve harmony between the two, it is necessary to define what makes public interest.

transition; urbanization; identity; spatial development

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