Original scientific paper
The Role of Councillors in Urban Management and Development in Croatia
Dubravka Jurlina Alibegović
orcid.org/0000-0002-0424-7583
; Institute of Economy, Zagreb
Sunčana Slijepčević
orcid.org/0000-0001-6185-4921
; Institute of Economy, Zagreb
Abstract
Tasks and objectives of town councils are analysed together with the role of councillors in stimulating local development in Croatia. Special emphasis is put on the analysis of the differences in tasks, objectives, and opinions of local councillors depending on the size of their respective towns. Data were collected by a survey conducted in 2008. The analysis deals with councillors’ attitude towards local politics and policy, and the importance they attribute to various activities conducted at the local level whose aim is to achieve sustainable local development. There is a special analysis of the influence of town councils on completion of different tasks (in their respective townships) that are important for stimulating local development, such as the distribution of tasks, the role of various stakeholders in local activities, and the opinion of local councillors about the importance of different tasks and objectives for fostering local development. The main hypothesis is that local councillors do not have different opinions with regard to the tasks and objectives on which they have the strongest influence and which must be achieved in order to foster local development. Further, it is assumed that in Croatia there is a uniform attitude about the priorities that lead to sustainable local development. Such an analysis renders possible to determine the main priorities that local councillors have with regard to the subject as well as departure of their priorities from those tasks and objectives they believe to have considerable influence on achieving sustainable development in Croatia.
Keywords
local self-government units; local development; urban management; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
135434
URI
Publication date:
7.6.2010.
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