Share these talks and lectures with your colleagues
Invite colleaguesManaging urban environments: Opportunities and (un)sustainable practices in the Sava River area in Zagreb
Abstract
Zagreb, the capital and the largest city of Croatia, addressed the frequent flooding from the Sava River to the south by ‘jumping over’ it to build a new part of the city, named New Zagreb, which is protected from floods with embankments. For several decades, urbanists and architects have proposed various solutions for the Sava River, and from time to time, political elites have implemented some proposals or elements of these. Nonetheless, Zagreb has never integrated the river into its urban fabric. At the same time, along the river, there are illegal rubbish dumps in the only protected natural area, and the institutions and local authorities ignore their existence and take no legal actions against the offenders. This paper presents a case study of the ‘Zagreb on the Sava’ project that used the most important determinants of sustainability as the criteria for the project review, with emphasis on sustainable urban planning and the sociocultural dimensions of sustainability through the prism of experts, ie planners and civil actors (UNDSD 2000). The results show, among other things, that the demands of civic actors (citizens and non-governmental organisations [NGOs]) and the everyday needs and practices of the local residents run counter to political decisions of the mayor and the rest of the local government. Both experts and citizens are powerless. This paper concludes that the unused and unacknowledged potential of the Sava River is important for the realisation of a sustainable city on a human scale.
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Jana Vukić , PhD is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb. Her primary field of interest is urban sociology, but she also teaches contemporary sociological theories, sustainable urban development and the participatory approach to spatial planning. She is the author of several books and publications in urban sociology, quality of life, cultural heritage and cultural landscape.
Jelena Zlatar Gamberožić is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb. Her main areas of interest are rural and urban sociology and the sociology of space. She is the author of a book and a large number of scientific and professional papers. She is a currently an Editor-in-chief of the library Science and Society and Special Editions (Institute for Social Research in Zagreb).
Sara Ursić is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar. Her scientific interest is the sociology of space, urban sociology, the sociology of housing and urban planning, with emphasis on the transformation of urban, suburban and rural spaces and the conceptualisation of home and the culture of dwelling in sociology. She has published numerous scientific papers and books. She teaches courses on the sociology of housing and the sociology of space.