Extensive forests in Croatia represent an important biological and economic resource in Europe. They are characterized by heterogeneity in forest management practices dating back to the socialist planned economy of the pre-1991 era. In this study we investigated the difference in rates of deforestation and reforestation in private and state owned forests during the post-socialist period, and the causal drivers of change. The selected region of Northern Croatia is characterised by a high percentage of privately owned forests with minimal national monitoring and control. We used a mixed-methods approach which combines remote sensing, statistical modelling and a household-based questionnaire survey to assess the rates of forest cover change and factors influencing those changes. The results show that predominantly privately owned forests in Northern Croatia have recorded a net forest loss of 1.8% during the 1991-2011 period, while Croatia overall is characterised by a 10% forest cover increase in predominantly state-owned forests. Main factors influencing forest cover changes in private forests are slope, altitude, education structure, population age and population density. The results also show that the deforestation in private forests is weakening overall, mostly due to the continuation of the de-agrarization and de-ruralisation processes which began during socialism.

Shrub encroachment and agricultural intensification have been a widespread occurrence in the former communist and socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Such changes have strongly affected grassland areas which are seen as hotspots of biodiversity in Europe. In this study we have investigated the changes in grassland cover as well as the causal mechanism of those changes in a selected region in Northern Croatia during the post-socialist transition. By using the mixed methods approach we combined remote sensing, statistical modelling and a household-based questionnaire (n=285) to map the changes in the grassland cover and to assess the socioeconomic and bio-physical contributing factors of the documented changes. The results demonstrate that areas seeing general depopulation trends and population ageing, along with increases in the amount of educated people are characterized by shrub encroachment and farmland abandonment, while flatlands and lowland areas are seeing higher rates of grassland to farmland conversion. The results also show that the partial de-agrarization characteristic for the socialist period has become a full de-agrarization in the post-socialist period, with the main impetus being education, rather than employment, as was the case during socialism.

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of community gardens in a (post)socialist setting during a time of key changes in their perception and management. Community gardens in Zagreb emerged in two specific economic and socio-cultural contexts and a diachronous approach to the study of urban gardens offers a unique insight into differences and similarities reflecting and contrasting those periods. Semistructured interviews and non-participatory observation were employed in the study. The results show that community gardens in Zagreb are multilayered places which satisfy diverse needs of the urban residents, including home grown food, socializing, recreation, contact with the nature, and even supplementation for low pensions. They can also be seen as examples of heterotopias or alternative spaces during both examined periods. In the socialist period they were secluded, private, pseudo-rural places in a semi-authoritarian, communal, and (supposedly) urban and industrial society. In post-socialist Zagreb, characterized by an uncontrolled and unplanned spatial context reliant on neoliberal market-oriented principles, social insensitivity and exclusion, the new gardens are depicted as beacons of communal involvement, grassroots movements, and the ability of citizens to stand together and make their voices heard.

Wildfires are an important factor of landscape dynamics in fireprone environments of the world. In the Mediterranean, one of the most firesusceptible environments globally, between 45,000 and 50,000 wildfires are recorded every year, causing disturbances in forest and grassland ecosystems. As a Mediterranean country, Croatia faces these problems, averaging over 1000 registered wildfires annually, with the coastal areas dominated by forest fires and continental Croatia by fires on agricultural lands. This research combines various landscape and socioeconomic factors in the analysis of fire occurrence in Croatia's southernmost region of Dalmatia. Around 275 of the largest fires (encompassing 98% of the total burnt area) registered in 2013 were investigated using OLS, and different spatial indices were employed to analyse regional variability of fire distribution. The results revealed that areas more prone to fires are the northern inland areas of Dalmatia and its entire coastal zone. Altitude and vegetation type demonstrated a correlation with fire occurrence, but an increase in population in the study area was also correlated with wildfire occurrence.Regarding vegetation, the grasslands and Mediterranean shrubland (maquis) were found to be the most fire-prone vegetation types in the study region, the distribution of which can be linked to different socio-economic and demographic processes occurring in the Eastern Adriatic.

The Medvednica Nature Park was established in 1981. At that time its main phenomena were forests and forest communities which covered some two thirds of the protected area. The Park is located in close vicinity to Zagreb, the largest city in Croatia, which has been characterised by a considerable growth in population and area during the last several decades.This article reconstructs a segment of Medvednica protected area's environmental history from 1978 to 2007. The study combines textual and tabular as well as cartographic and remote sensing data in order to provide a clear insight into the proportions of deforestation and reforestation, and their spatial patterns across the entire area of the Park.Results indicate forest transition on more than one tenth of the protected area. These are mostly contact zones of human activities and forest communities located at the edges of the protected area and at its higher elevations. Results also indicate net forest gain of 8.3% over the 1978-2007 period. S obzirom na to da su šume bile glavni razlog osnutka Parka prirode Medvednica, primarni fokus istraživanja bio je usmjeren upravo na prostorne promjene šumskog pokrova. Rezultati upućuju da se promjena šumskog pokrova (deforestacija ili reforestacija) odvija na više od jedne desetine ukupne površine Parka. Riječ je o kontaktnim zonama ljudskih aktivnosti i šumskih zajednica koje se nalaze uglavnom na rubu te zonama na višim nadmorskim visinama zaštićenog područja. Rezultati također pokazuju da bilanca prostornih promjena šumskog pokrova ide u korist reforestacije za otprilike 8. 3% tijekom razdoblja 1978. -2007.

The period of economic transition has resulted in complex social, functional and morphological transformations which have left their mark in the urban structure of Zagreb. At the beginning of 2000' fundamental planning acts have been passed - Zagreb spatial plan and the City Master Plan - to serve as concrete strategies and guidelines in developing the city area. However, none of the regulatory rules and acts have been completely successful in managing the city development. Significant changes and problems the city is facing in the post-socialist era serve as a research framework and are discussed in this paper. The main goal is to register and explain crucial causes of these spatial transformations. Based on the research of cartographic sources and conducted fieldwork four representative types of problem areas of the city are recognized. According to their functional and morphological characteristics, they are: converted urban land areas, derelict areas, newly built areas and densified areas. Each of these four types of problem areas is individually analyzed in the context of possible negative consequences on the urban environment

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