engleski

Illegal construction in urban space of city of Split : conflicts and their perspectives

The authors are dealing with changes of function and structure of the city of Split (Croatia) in the context of crises of industrial society and urbanism of Moderna and according to social difficulties and conflicts which started to appear more intensively after their beginning in 1990s. Those problems refer to different approaches and methods of planning and arranging of urban space. Urbanism and space planning didn't have adequate answers for the changes of political, social and economical system, and still they don't have. That was the reason why the authors conducted the sociological and empirical research in order to determine what had happened and what was happening with illegal and unplanned construction in the space of city of Split and what were the perspectives of such phenomena in the nearest future. In realized research they applied mix methodology and combined it with a few other qualitative and quantitative research methods: content analyses, interviews, focus groups (structured and non-structured), surveys combined with structured interviews and non-structured interviews in the form of so called follow up. The major aspect for functioning of planning system of sustainable development and improving of quality of living, according to the authors’ opinion, lies in including the public in the system of making decisions and implementation of laws, regulations and plans and so on. Formal forms for introducing the public are included in international conventions that Croatia has accepted and ratified, as well as in the state’ s laws (Law of Urban Planning, Law of Environment Protection and so on), but the real including of the public is insufficient. The level of mutual communication and exchange of information between the individual actors and sectors do not fulfil the criteria of effective informing. The decisions that are relevant for space protection are usually made in the central government’ s institutions, ministries, state offices and institutes. According to this, there is not enough mutual communication between those institutions and it makes the system inefficient. Analyzing the results of the research of public opinion, the authors conclude that the citizens treat the problems of unplanned and illegal construction in Split very critically stressing the importance of coordination the following prerequisites: (1) high professionalism on all interactive levels, (2) suitable political prerequisites and (3) adequate and empirically adaptable legislative regulation. It would be possible to create urban space of the city of Split toward higher standards after we integrate these three prerequisites. Namely, a kind of chaos is obvious, especially in those spheres that are eminently interdisciplinary, complex, interactive and developing. The chaos is especially significant in wide range of social and urban areas in which citizens live and work. The special accent is on the lack of general vision that the city authority should possess, as well as the lack of research studies that would have as they result a social assessment, which is currently necessary and unavoidable. This means a contextualization of discussions on the following topics: type of the city ; what kind of the city we should develop ; what we should urge ; how and where to invest ; who, with whom and with what human resources (human capital). It is necessary to recognize common social care for city urbanism and the future of the city. Nevertheless, urban and historical experience teaches us that planning and plans are necessary, but not sufficient. Every state’ s department, governmental office, every profession holds tightly only its own part of the problem. They are not willing to leave it neither do they allow any influence from outside. The fact that there is the correct legislative but no changes in space seems absurd. That refers to paradoxical illusion made by contradictory social mechanisms and which are just prima vista unexplainable and unpredicted. In other words, there are no ideal space plans, nor it is possible to make them even in the most suitable social situations and conditions. There are, of course, no social communities and societies without conflicts and inequality of different types and contents. Finally, the authors discuss the possibility of existing of such space plans that contain plurality of ideas, needs and lifestyles of citizens on a specific space. They wonder if the concept of transition is the way of getting out from complicated social conditions in which it is better systematically not to interfere. Because of the social peace, post-war exhaustion, traumas and similar explanations, there is the mysterious and endless social circle of justifications, as well as the search for the other enemies somewhere outside. The unplanned and illegal constructions were presented as social phenomena of empirical connotations. Their indicators are eminently commercialisation, more floors, concrete profit, so such type of building cannot be characterized as an example of social pathology. The solutions probably don’ t lie exclusively in the sphere of justice, neither in the political sphere. The politics initiates and coordinates. The law regulates and locates. Real profession solves and empirically defines. The state joins, coordinates and makes interactive all of these processes. The states takes the role of social coordinator. It is the only one that has the power and specific mechanism for integration and development of all these subjects and objects. Its offices and authorities should only be better organized and professionally and scientifically evaluated. In that way the political elites would be publicly unmasked and the urbanism in Split would implement the elements of legal state, civil society, developed democracy, sustainable society. Of course, those discourses would be related to achieved civilization levels especially those arising from European cultural milieu.

sociological empirical research, urban space, Split, unplanned city construction

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