Thursday, March 5, 2015

Presentation of the book “Zadar's Riva as the Space of Urbanism”


The book ''Zadar's Riva as the Space of Urbanism'' by Full Professor Inga Tomić Koludrović, Željka Tonković, PhD, and Željka Zdravković, PhD (edited by Mirko Petrić), was presented on Wednesday, 28 January 2015, in the Great Hall of the University of Zadar.

In this book, the research of identity, cultural context, and socio-spatial structure of Zadar's Riva have been analysed and interpreted by a task group of the University of Zadar’s Department of Sociology, within the strategy on the University’s cooperation with the local community. The research has been, on the one hand, theoretically and methodologically realised relying on the tradition of a functional and structural analysis of urban spaces, and on the other hand, on the interactional analysis of the relation between people and their cultural and urban landscape.

One of the authors of the book, Full Professor Inga Tomić Koludrović from the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Split, said that people who do not live in the Peninsula were more radical in seeking changes compared to people living in it, who only wished to improve the space.

The reviewers of the book were Saša Poljanec Borić, PhD from the Institute for Social Sciences Ivo Pilar-Split, and Full Professor Ognjen Čaldarović from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. Saša Poljanec, PhD, considers that this work reveals the structure of current trends, and has become a valuable sociological foundation for conceiving new urban politics in Zadar. She particularly pointed out that the emigration of the Peninsula inhabitants must not be allowed.

Full Professor Ognjen Čaldarović is of an opinion that the book will serve as an incentive to many citizens of Zadar who are interested in its past, present, and future in the context of possible interventions in the Riva space.

The conclusion of this sociological study is that the Riva design should be approached very carefully in order to achieve a potential to attract people, and at the same time, to preserve the ambient value of the space. In planning the urban design of the Riva and space in the Peninsula, it is important to keep in mind that urban tourism is an important branch of development in Zadar, but that it also highly depends on the quality of life of the local population.


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