Target Group
Local Self-governments
The decision making process related to spatial management in the coastal towns and municipalities, which is fundamentally inseparable from the system of development policies, is essentially political and centralized. This would suggest that decisions are made along party political lines rather than on the basis of wider social and economic objectives.
Decisions about spatial transformation are preceded according to the existing system of spatial planning which is based on a model of total territorial coverage by urban plans, from the state level to the level of self-government units. According to this system, it is not possible to frame the building conditions for the one cadastre unit without the establishment of the hierarchically organised plan system. Finally, such a model indicates a scenario that obstructs any proposed solution for the local community development unless the whole system of spatial plans production to the highest level is not initiated.
Consequently, coastal cities and towns are devoid of capacity to manage development scenarios that represent the real interests of the community. At the moment, the most relevant regulatory document on which the development of coastal cities and towns should be based is the County Spatial Plan that is recognized more as an instrument of the territorial separation than an instrument of the development, focused mainly on restrictions, highly determined without a sensibility for local conditions. Therefore, local communities should be able to produce development strategies by themselves and there is no institutional capacity for such a task. At the same time, if they have a vision for development, there is no method to further develop the strategies and existing spatial planning regulatory framework opens a process that presents an obstacle more than a way for achievement of efficient and genuine development solutions.
Civil Society
The project recognizes civil society as an essential actor involved in the process of coastal development strategies. Along the Croatian coastline, which is characterised by the unique cultural, natural and historical resources, citizens have a high level of receptiveness for the spatial transformations of its territory. However, in Croatia social partners and NGOs are hardly ever involved in the design or appraisal of socio-economic policies. At the outset of the inception period, it was obvious that civil society was under developed in Croatia. In fact, there are some 24,000 registered non-government organizations active in the vast sphere of voluntary activity. However, they remain very unorganized and fragmented. Over recent years, networks have begun to emerge within specific sectors, but the prospect of an over-arching umbrella body for non-government organizations at this stage looks distant.
Nevertheless, at the specific project locations, there are some forms of civic society which gather to participate in communal public interests. Their interest ranges from the environmental concerns, sport, recreational, cultural and other activities. The essential idea behind the project is to build its institutional capacities in a direction that would enable these actors to articulate their needs within the urban and cultural policies.
Croatian architectural / urban management and planning practice
In recent times, the role of Croatian architects within the process of the building and management of the coastal area is delineated by the existing unstable conditions of a transitional society. In the 1990’s, Croatia entered transition by embracing the model of neo-liberal economy and the fruits of globalisation. The new dynamic social processes had immediate spatial implications. The unsafe velocities of these transformations could not be followed by inactive architects and planners. Architecture was perceived as part of representative culture, while reflecting practice was replaced with utter pragmatism. Communication, dialogue, exchange of knowledge, and interdisciplinary work hardly existed.
The Croatian Architects Association, as a representative body of the architectural profession, recognizes the urgent need for the development of new methods and techniques necessary for successful urban management and planning, as well as ones needed for strong influence on urban and cultural policies. The unstable transitional environment calls for fast and reflexive viewpoints on spatial changes. Spatial phenomena cannot be explained without the various social outlooks offered through interdisciplinary research. In the era of weakening of public institutions and transferring of state control to the field of private interest, the architect influences urban policy as an advocate of the public domain. For these reasons, the Croatian Architects Association tends to shift the focus of its actions from isolated service for the production of architectural competitions and publications towards becoming an active partner in the dialogue about process of planning and building in Croatia. This new approach could be recognized in CAA’s ambition to organize the First Congress of Croatian Architects in Zadar, with a main theme Building on a Coast, being aware of a sensitivity of the coastal territory to new impacts of mass colonization. In addition, the CAA initiates the establishment of a research institute that would coordinate the process of coastal development through different projects and activities.
International architectural / urban management and planning practice
The contact and exchange of experiences with an international architectural audience would be realized through the project’s participation as a part of Rotterdam Biennale programme that is to concentrate on coastal development research in Mediterranean countries – Mare Nostrum. The presentation of seven Pilot Projects along the Croatian coastline together with other Mediterranean milieus (Spain, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel) undergoing similar transformations and their experiences in these processes would create an opportunity to include Croatia in a world-wide debate on coastline developments.
The second Architecture Biennale Rotterdam will focus on water in relation to architecture, urban design, landscape and spatial planning. It will examine the relationship of water in historical, socio-cultural, psychological/tourist and economic perspectives by displaying and developing projects, by organising debates and master classes, and by showing films and other events in which making space for and working with water play an important role, from both an architectural and urban point of view.