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.

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 academic picture of a globalized European countryside, and particularly of rural areas in postsocialist, new member states of the European Union, is one of huge and increasing complexity, diversity, and uncertainties about the future. The aim of this research is to construct alternative scenarios for rural Croatia in 2030, acknowledging its postsocialist transition as an important framework. Future development scenarios were constructed by integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches. The main methods used

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U radu je provedena prostorna analiza upisnih područja državnih (redovnih) osnovnoškolskih ustanova u Gradu Zagrebu. Prostorna analiza provedena je na temelju podataka prikupljenih od nadležnih gradskih službi te Državnog zavoda za statistiku, koji su objedinjeni u bazu podataka, odnosno kartirani, obrađeni i vizualizirani pomoću GIS aplikacija.Ustanovljeno je da upisna područja definirana Odlukom o mreži osnovnih škola na području Grada Zagreba iz 2007. prelaze granice gradskih četvrti, naselja, pa čak i županije, diskontinuirana su i međusobno se prožimaju. Značajni broj kućnih brojeva dodijeljenih određenim upisnim područjima izlazi izvan GUP-om preporučenog obuhvata od šesto metara. Istražene su prosječne i maksimalne udaljenosti pripadajućih kućnih brojeva od osnovnih škola, koje također prelaze udaljenost od šesto metara.Bufferi izrađeni na temelju adresa osnovnih škola i preklopljeni sa slojevima podataka o korištenju i namjeni prostora u Gradu Zagrebu upućuju na kvalitetu okruženja pojedinih škola i potencijalne prijetnje u njihovu susjedstvu. Analiza je pokazala značajne razlike u korištenju i namjeni prostora u okruženju škola.