Revitalization of Croatian Abandoned Coastal Industrial and Military Facilities as an Incentive for Local Community Development

Abstract

The coastal areas of Croatia have been in the process of transformation for more than three decades. Their social, recreational, and economic function is often not in the function of regional and local development. A special problem is buildings, often empty, unused, and left to devastation as an example of the complexity of the conversion process. Coastal areas in the Croatian part of the Adriatic are characterized by a very mild climate, attractiveness, and investment potential. These are features that enable development but at the same time represent a trap of transitional and post-transitional growth, with intensive exploitation, concreting and development. This brings negative development effects in the long run and loses its developmental meaning. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the social opportunities and economic strength of the devastated coastal area with special reference to former military areas. The aim of this paper is to determine the possibilities of protection against increasingly aggressive exploitation of space and capital construction, which results in the destruction of the environment. The special goal is to determine the development scenario of revaluation of space and real estate that is predominantly owned by state on the case study of the city of Pula.