– In the year in which we celebrate 145 years since the founding of what was then the Club of Engineers and Architects, today the Croatian Engineering Association, our attention is focused on space as a national good, which requires special caution in its use and planning for development, which unfortunately is not approached systematically. The responsibility and task of its protection and improvement lie with the architectural and urban planning profession – emphasized in his opening speech dipl. ing. građ. Zdravko Jurčec, president of HIS at this year’s Day of Engineers in Croatia held by the Croatian Engineering Association (HIS) in cooperation with the Academy of Technical Sciences of Croatia (HATZ) and the hosting of the City of Zagreb in the City Assembly of the City of Zagreb.
Jurčec confirmed that the contract for the renovation of the HIS House in Berislavićeva Street in Zagreb was signed on January 2, 2023, thus starting the process of its reconstruction.
The fourth technological revolution, which is underway, brings us previously unseen achievements for which we do not yet know how far and at what speed they will develop in a positive or sometimes negative sense, noted prof. dr. sc. Vladimir Andročec, a member of the HATZ Management Board.
No more sustainability or harmony
The role of spatial planning has been continuously weakening since Croatia’s independence, and a significant part of the space built in the last three decades lacks sustainability, harmony, functionality, or elementary beauty. Outdated spatial plans no longer provide adequate responses to new challenges of social and spatial development, emphasized dipl. ing. arh. Nikša Božić, speaking about the existing legal framework and its adaptation.
The adoption of the Spatial Planning Act in 2013 introduced a reform of the spatial planning system, which has not come to life to this day, and since the adoption of the law, no plan has been adopted in the announced, but never established new system or generation of spatial plans. Therefore, members of the planning profession, Božić warned, continuously seek changes to the legislative framework to ensure a more efficient spatial planning system at least at five spatial levels in the system of so-called fair land distribution according to ownership structure, adequate social development, and ensuring the desired quality of the overall environment.
Greater participation of the population in planning is needed
– Numerous documents and development policies of the EU, which Croatia has also adopted, obligate us to establish the principles of sustainable urban development, many of which require the adoption of new modernized planning standards with greater prior participation and active involvement of residents. Education of future professionals plays a significant role in this, who, based on an interdisciplinary approach, should take on a significant role in urban renewal and planning future development with clear rules of the game in a way that the common good is above the personal, respecting adopted European standards – said prof. emeritus dr. sc.Tihomir Jukić.
– In the period of transition, privatization, capital pressures, touristification, and gentrification, the role of the urban planning profession in society should be stronger than ever to reconcile different interests in space, preserve inherited values, and achieve the general or public interest in space. Today, we have over 200 different development strategies in Croatia that are not coordinated. From the approach ‘from the center to the periphery’, today the world prevails ‘re-zoning approach’ or connecting ‘everyone with everyone’ – added Jukić.
