Details about how the instrument was designed:
The cooperative instrument is based on an innovative method of bringing together the city administration, its citizens, professionals, and academic institutions to collaborate on space interventions closely. The design of the cooperative instrument was based on the bottom-up initiative of "City Acupuncture" - Faculty of Architecture at the University of Zagreb and the Zagreb Society of Architects. In addition, the team has worked closely with the City Office for Spatial Planning and Construction and various civil society actors, and the Think Space team to establish a cooperative agreement on developing ways of revitalizing existing places, reviving abundant spaces, and returning leverages of spaces accessible to the citizens. The concept of "City Acupuncture" was implemented in five cities (Skopje, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, and Split) and resulted in addition to the cooperative instrument in Zagreb, more than 230 proposals and around 20 implemented interventions.
Targeted actors:
Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
Researchers, university
Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs
Details about the implementation:
The cooperative instrument implementation in "Zagreb for Me" was based on comprehensive interdisciplinary workshops with neighborhood councils and civil society groups to share their aspirations and ideas on improving citizens' well-being through small spatial interventions in the city neighborhoods. The citizen science approach included fieldwork at the residents' level to collect their thoughts on Zagreb's public spaces and their priority list for revitalizing sites. In addition, an online platform was published to share the latest updates and information on the progress of the instrument implementation.
The selection of the sites was carried out with the active participation of the public to ensure inclusivity and widespread comprehension of the project, aiming at involving the vast possible number of citizens, professional bodies, organizations, and administrative bodies in the process. Simultaneously, the Faculty of Architecture at Zagreb University examined potential locations in terms of their importance to the city and their reference to urban planning regulations. As a result, 17 potential sites were identified out of 211. Eventually, only one urban-architectural tender was piloted, and the project implementation was paused.
How did the government support the instrument?:
The City Office for Spatial Planning and Construction closely collaborated with the "Zagreb for Me" team. Specifically, the office was responsible for preparing the implementation of interventions and securing the needed budgets through the City of Zagreb Council.
