The Directive Regulatory Basis of Zagreb 1953 – Public Discussion

Abstract

The proposition of the Directive Regulatory Basis of Zagreb from 1953 was one of the most anticipated documents of the city of Zagreb in the post-war period. Its solutions were supposed to have an effect on the everyday life of citizens, from traffic solutions, the placement of industry, i.e. workplaces, to residential and recreation locations. The urban proposition was discussed within closed circles of the People’s Committee of the city of Zagreb from which information was released to the public and published as part of the public debate. The public debate consisted of signed and unsigned articles reporting and/or commenting on the drafting of the DRO (Directive Regulatory Basis) in 1953 or commenting on/criticizing the content of it. The texts were published in the period from March 1953 until October 1954 in the daily Vjesnik, the weekly Republika, as well as the specialized journals Građevinar and Čovjek i prostor. The expert part of the public discussion refers to the criticism of certain segments of the Directive Regulatory Basis 1953. The engineer Milko Sinković criticized the railway junction, engineer Božidar Vizjak commented on road traffic, whereas the engineers Artur Minichreiter and Elimir Svetličić analysed the proposition relating to the regulation of the Sava River. A general critique of the urban planning proposition of the DRO 1953 was presented by the engineer Peter Sanjanović. The analysis also includes the texts of authors N.M. and M.V. published in the journal Čovjek i prostor, which describe the process of the development of the DRO 1953 and the critique of the proposition.