Branko Cavrić

Ante Å iljeg

Silvija Toplek

 

ULOGA URBANISTIČKIH INDIKATORA U MJERENJU KVALITETA URBANOG ŽIVOTA U POST-SOCIJALISTIČKOM GRADU NA PRIMJERU ZADRA

 

DOI: 10.35666/28310438.2008.2.428

UDC: 911.37.001.76:394(497.5Zadar)

  

Abstract: Today there is a wide spread perception that information on environment in general, and urban environment in particular, is the determinant of rational decision making, effective governance and rational allocation of natural, human and fiscal resources. Effort to incorporate sustainability principles into urban development of post-socialist city demands new relationships between traditional and contemporary culture of key players involved in urban planning and development. Assessing the effectivness of urban environment and its auditing through the development and implementation of sustainability indicators system has been the subject of numerous studies and urban management practices worldwide starting with Global Union Observatory UNCHS which developed a data base for measuring the quality of life in more than 1,100 cities worldwide. Individual cities also begin developing sets of indicators, especially in Canada (Vancouver), United States of America (Pittsburgh, Santa Monica, Seattle) and England (Birstol), and more recently in continental Europe at large (ESPON Urban Audit). This paper evaluates the use of indicators as a means of measuring the quality of urban life in changing socio-economic and environmental circumstance, against major sustainability principles in coastal city of Zadar. A new GIS based method suitable for post-socialist and transitional cities in a fragile Mediterranean environment is outlined for the development of quantitative indicators as part of an integrated approach which includes analysis of natural, built-up, social, economic and political components.

Key words: urban environment, post-socialist city, indicators, sustainability, GIS.

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