Can Zagreb Become a Green Amsterdam?

RE:PLAY (Redesigning playscapes with children in Western Balkans) is the latest project of the European Union with a total value of just over 400 thousand euros, aimed at redesigning children’s playgrounds, with children as the main drivers of the project, not only in Croatia but also in five neighboring countries of the Western Balkans.

The project partner representing our country is the landscape architecture office, Kreativni Krajobrazi, led by Kaja Šprljan Bušić and Iva Šimić Erjavec, who already have one EU success behind them, „A Backpack Full of Culture“.

One of the main features of such European Union projects is the cooperation of partners from the Western Balkan countries, which in this case brought together: Slovenia (Pazi!Park Association as the project leader), Croatia (Kreativni Krajobrazi), Serbia (Association 'Škograd'), Montenegro (Gradionica), and  Albania (Qendra Marredhenie).

– All of us living in urban environments witness the changes that have occurred in children’s playgrounds, especially in large cities like Zagreb. The last decades of car-centric planning have drastically reduced children’s ability to move and play independently in the city, offering them the same 'equipment' on all playgrounds – noted landscape architect Kaja Šprljan Bušić and added that this distances children from unstructured play, which best develops imagination.

RE:PLAY partners want to emphasize the importance of designing spaces for children where they can play and feel unrestricted and limitless through cooperation and the exchange of experiences from their countries.

This project, fully titled 'Redesigning playscapes with children in Western Balkans – RE:PLAY', is one of 13 selected projects (among 350 submitted) and is funded by the Creative Europe fund (2014-2020), with a planned duration of 3 years (final until December 2023), and a total value of 424,947 EUR.

All RE:PLAY project partners visited several cities in the Netherlands last week, where they witnessed examples of green infrastructure and inclusive planning. Their goal is to apply such and similar solutions in local environments through projects that will be realized by the end of 2023 in each partner country (Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and Croatia).

Specifically, in The Hague, discussions were held with local city representatives about developing a child-friendly city, and in The Hague’s Zuiderpark, they had the opportunity to see the application of the concept of urban gardens and witness how important it is to educate citizens about the benefits of participating in the entire process: from planting, maintaining to jointly enjoying the grown fruits.

Guided by urban planning experts, they visited several playgrounds in Amsterdam, were informed about the plan to green concrete playgrounds around 200 primary schools, and saw a number of other examples that will serve as templates for greening playgrounds and schools in their countries.

– We were most impressed by the raising of 'green awareness' among the residents of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, who have small urban gardens at every corner, even in the most densely populated parts of the city – emphasized architect Iva Šimić Erjavec and stressed that she believes that the City of Zagreb, in cooperation with landscape architects and other experts, will embark on the path of a green Amsterdam.

{embed_digitalno_izdanje}{/embed_digitalno_izdanje}