Capital Zagreb versus coastal Split : enduring tensions between capital cities and port second cities

Abstract

Being on the edge of space and politics, coastal cities (sometimes accompanied by islands) traditionally play second fiddle to larger, urban capital cities, located more centrally in their respective countries’ interiors. This paper aims to explore the opportunities and threats faced by coastal cities and their neighbouring islands while rethinking them through the concept of ‘the second city’. Today, the status of second(ary) cities is usually constituted in terms of their size, resources, economic, and political power. In the context of maritime second (and secondary) cities, these criteria are further complicated by their peripheral status and 'marginal' role. However, this generic understanding of second(ary) cities is being challenged, thereby enabling much more complex definitions and a multidisciplinary approach. This paper offers a rethinking of how ‘the second city’ is understood, by analysing the multi-layered relations and ambivalences emerging from the entanglement of historical, cultural, social and economic processes that define coastal cities as second cities. Based on a combination of desk research, discourse analysis of secondary literature and the authors’ multi-disciplinarity, experiences and presence in the cities they study, the focus is on how a city’s secondness is experienced, negotiated and redefined. After a short but scene-setting overview of first/second city cases and their associated problems, the study engages with the coastal city of Split as Croatia’s second city in relation to the (non-coastal) capital, Zagreb. Our aim is to understand what constitutes Split as second city, and how the coastal experience and the cosmopolitan vibe of Mediterranean Split triggers social and cultural processes in which secondness is questioned and (re)negotiated. Furthermore, we want to understand how does the changing (in)visibility of Split’s urban seascape challenge and override its stigma as Croatia’s ‘second best’ urban settlement.

Nalazeći se na rubu prostora i politike priobalni gradovi (ponekad i otoci) uobičajeno predstav- ljaju drugu violinu u odnosu na veće, urbane glavne gradove, smještene bliže središnjem dijelu unutrašnjosti svojih država. Ovaj rad nastoji istražiti prilike i prijetnje s kojima se suočavaju priobalni gradovi i njima susjedni otoci, iznova ih promišljajući kroz koncept ‘drugoga grada’. Danas se status drugoga (po važnosti) grada uspostavlja s obzirom na veličinu, resurse te eko- nomsku i političku moć. U kontekstu drugih (i drugih po važnosti) priobalnih gradova, ti se kriteriji dodatno kompliciraju njihovim perifernim statusom i 'marginalnom' ulogom. Ipak, takvo se generičko shvaćanje drugih (po važnosti) gradova dodatno propituje, omogućujući pritom mnogo složenije definicije i multidisciplinaran pristup. Ovaj rad nudi ponovno pro- mišljanje načina shvaćanja ‘drugoga grada’, analizirajući višeslojne odnose i ambivalencije koje nastaju ispreplitanjem povijesnih, kulturnih, društvenih i ekonomskih procesa koji definiraju priobalne gradove kao druge. Na temelju analize dokumenata, analize diskursa sekundarne literature te multidisciplinarnosti autora, kao i njihovih iskustava i prisutnosti u gradovima koje proučavaju, naglasak je na načinu na koji se drugost grada doživljava, pregovara i rede- finira. Nakon kratkog pregleda slučajeva prvih/drugih gradova i njihovih problema, čime je postavljen okvir, istraživanje se usmjerava na priobalni grad Split kao drugi grad Hrvatske u odnosu na (ne-priobalni) glavni grad Zagreb. Naš je cilj razumjeti što Split čini drugim gradom te na koji način iskustvo življenja na obali i kozmopolitski duh mediteranskoga Splita potiču društvene i kulturne procese u kojima se drugost propituje i iznova pregovara. Nadalje, želimo razumjeti na koji način promjenjiva (ne)vidljivost urbanog morskog krajobraza Splita propi tuje i nadjačava njegovu stigmu kao ‘drugog po redu’ najboljeg urbanog naselja u Hrvatskoj.