Prostorno planiranje u Primorsko-goranskoj županiji - zavod pgz ...

19810. Redman C. L. i dr.: The Environmental, Social and Health Dimensions of UrbanExpansion, Springer Netherland, 2005.11. Strategija prostornog uređenja Republike Hrvatske, Ministarstvo prostornoguređenja, graditeljstva i stanovanja, Zagreb, 1997.12. Trumbić, I.: Mediteranski akcijski plan, Split, 2001.Prof. dr. sc. Mladen ČRNJARSummaryREGIONAL POLICY AND PHYSICAL PLANNINGOver the last ten years, we have witnessed rapid social, economic, scientific and cultural changesat global and European, that is, national levels. Technical progress has facilitated the quickconstruction of infrastructure and continuous urbanisation, because humanity today dependsmore on existing infrastructure than on natural conditions.Unlike other legislation, laws regulating physical planning both in Europe and in Croatia arealmost entirely in the hands of each country and region; that is, local self-government. Regionalplanning has never taken hold in Croatia the way it did in some developed European countries(France, Germany, Netherlands, etc.). Some positive examples from the past include plans for theNorthern and Southern Adriatic regions (from the early 1970s), and some municipal physicalplans, like those for Rijeka and Split. Unfortunately, however, these exceptions did not have anysignificant influence on planning practice or legislation in Croatia.Croatia’s new regional structure from 1992 provided a new opportunity for regional planning, ofwhich – again – no advantage was even remotely taken. This happened primarily because regionalplanning in general, which means physical planning too, is in fact “strategic long-term planning”for which politicians often have little understanding because its timespan “goes way beyond thetimespan of election periods”.In spite of the significant progress that has been made over the last ten years with regard tophysical planning at regional and local levels, inadequate organisation of the relevant Ministry ofEnvironmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, as well as the lack of a “powerful”(in terms of quality and quantity) National Institute for Physical Planning, has resulted in localgovernment units having low-quality and “subjectively” elaborated physical plans.Croatia must adapt its legislation to EU directives, but must also define its own interest in thedevelopment of the physical planning system. Croatia and its counties must give regionalsustainable development planning a chance, because such planning is the only way to joindeveloped countries without devastating the area where we actually live.Keywords:sustainable development, regional policy, environment, physical planning, European Union