Zagreb hosts student workshop on transport and spatial organization
Image by ODRAZ - Sustainable Community Development
The first cycle of interdisciplinary workshops for students on urban mobility and planning of public spaces in Zagreb was held in November and December 2021. The workshop was organized within the project "UrbanSTEM - for cities and communities of the future" by ODRAZ, Secretariat of the CIVINET Slo-Cro-SEE. Students did practical work in small interdisciplinary groups on specific topics or problems related to the revitalisation of public spaces in the city.
The workshop brought together 22 students from the University of Zagreb, from the Faculties of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Transport and Traffic Sciences, Philosophy, and the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Science.
Professors from the mentioned faculties held presentations on the topic of urban mobility and spatial planning with an emphasis on the interdisciplinary approach. Students were introduced to the program for improving the mobility and transport system of Donji Grad in Zagreb, as well as geographical analysis methods for transport in spatial planning, SUMPs, social aspects of transport, transport marginalization and participatory spatial design.
Student groups selected their own spatial problem, then determined geographic coverage of the selected area and analysed the problems for a total of five locations in Zagreb. After the analysis of current spatial issues, students continued to discuss within the groups and propose improvement measures for selected areas.
On the final day of the workshop, each group presented its plan and vision for development to the colleagues. In an interdisciplinary environment under the guidance of professors, students successfully proposed transport and spatial solutions for selected areas in Zagreb which they then presented on 10 December 2021 during ODRAZ's event on sustainable local development.
Student-proposed solutions to current problems might improve the quality of life of the residents and other users of the observed areas, as well as enable social interaction. Measures to achieve the desired goals were mainly related to promoting sustainable urban mobility, improving the safety of non-motorized transport, rebuilding or improving pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, parking space reorganization and arranging new green areas. The students presented complex solutions in their presentations, emphasizing short, medium and long-term planning. They also stressed the importance of involving residents, or people who are using the space, while developing the final solutions.
Author: the Network for Sustainable Urban Mobility CIVINET Slovenia-Croatia-SEE
