1) The coast and its islands are the most valuable part of our country.
This universally accepted view implies that they should be given special status
and care. Repeatedly declaring this without serious investments and concrete
participation of the state cannot bring results.
2) The system of planning and administrating coastal development must be
logical and operative, which sets up the precondition of changing legal
boundaries. The need for the Adriatic Office that would co-ordinate those
activities is evident, as well as the need for raising the level of planning
carrier from the present municipality level.
3) Building at the coast must be a result of well thought-over
multidisciplinary procedure, as a sequence of development policy of the state
and national politics of architecture. Principles of integral coast
administration and sustainable development, passed long ago and stated in legal
preambles, must also be implemented in practice.
4) The coast is an area used for living, which has building as a
consequence. Every attempt at stopping that process and freezing the existing
situation is doomed to failure. Every administration strategy must take that
into account, otherwise it would be unsuccessful from the very beginning.
5) Sustainable development with no population is not sustainable
development. It cannot be in the interest of Croatia to preserve the existing
appearance of the coast by completely changing its population. The state must
devise measures, which would make remaining in this area easier for local
population.
6) The coast is an important part of Croatian identity, from where building
heritage originated. New development should be an expression of the
contemporary Croatian society, which takes into consideration all layers of historical
values. We must by no means permit the importation of recycled projects of
romantic tourist resorts, which have already ruined other coastal areas of the
Mediterranean.
7) Privatisation and fencing of the coast is an absolutely unacceptable
model, discordant with the Croatian tradition of treating space. The restricted
resort concept or selling coves or entire islands should by no means be applied
to the coastal area.
Zadar, Oct. 16th, 2004