RAZVOJNI CILJEVI I NASLIJEĐENA RAZVOJNA OGRANIČENJA HRVATSKIH SREDNJIH GRADOVA
DEVELOPMENTAL GOALS AND INHERITED DEVELOPMENTAL LIMITATIONS OF CROATIAN MIDDLE TOWNS

Summary/Abstract: Middle Croatian towns have so far not been a separate subject of sociological analysis. It is therefore difficult to give reliable assessmentsof their possibilities of development. With regard to past characteristics of Croatian urbanization, it may be expected that within its framework bigger and big Croatian towns will have greater possibilities of development. However, under a more meaningful planning policy whose goal is to encourage policentric tendencies in an urban network, middle towns can play an important role. The special developmental advantages they are offering are the following: (i) greater chances of securing/building an apartment according to housing aspirations; (ii) a more favourable environmental situation; (iii) urban services are (will be) of a higher quality than in big towns; (iv) in middle towns, as a rule, unemployment is lower; (v) middle towns facilitate the use of the private plot-garden as a specific family developmental resource, which is specially important for the stability of the household; (vi) in smaller centres it is easier to activate, in terms of rational development, the local tourist and recreational resources and, based on that, improve complementary economic activities; (vii) due to a lesser complexity of social network there is also, as a rule, a smaller level of conflict between the participants. In contrast to these advantages there are quite a number of developmental limitations.

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