TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITIES IN CROATIA

Among the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are cities that provide social and economic progress for their inhabitants. Urban management and development face many challenges in the continuous creation of new jobs and prosperity without harming the environment and resources. Most cities in Croatia, especially in the coastal areas, are recognized as tourism destinations: tourism is the most important economic activity. The aim of this paper is to investigate, based on secondary available data, whether having tourism as a generator of the city’s overall development is sufficient to make it an attractive place to live. In these times of intensive economic, sociological and cultural changes, tourism destination management needs to recognize and to define a suitable and feasible model, methodology and the means of implementing urban destination development strategy. The mere notion of a tourism destination implies the integral management of all key stakeholders. Faced with negative demographic processes, the underdevelopment of the urban settlements network, with its function and economy, we conclude that national policies need to give special attention to those urban areas that lag behind the national average. Based on that analysis and the conclusions drawn from it, our paper suggests a model of a sustainable transitional city that is economically independent, and which is an attractive place not only for visiting tourists, but also for its residents throughout the year.