List of cities and towns in Croatia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An urbanized area in Croatia can gain the status of grad (which can be translated as town or city as there is no distinction between the two terms in Croatian) if it meets one of the following requirements:
- is the center of a county (županija), or
- has more than 10,000 residents, or
- is defined by an exception (where the necessary historical, economic or geographic reasons exist)
A city (town) represents an urban, historical, natural, economic and social whole. The suburbs comprising an economic and social whole with the city, connected with it by daily migration movements and daily needs of the population of local significance, may also be included into the composition of a city as unit of local self-government.[1]
Grad (city/town) is the local administrative equivalent of općina (translated as "municipality"), with the only distinction being that the former usually comprise urban areas whereas the latter commonly consist of a group of villages. Both municipalities and city/towns often comprise more than one settlement, as the administrative territory of a grad may include suburban villages or hamlets near the city/town in question. Settlements (naselja) are the third-level spatial units of Croatia,[2][3] and the smallest unit for which the decennial census data are published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics but are not administrative entities, i.e. they are governed by the municipal or city/town council of the local administrative unit they belong to.
Croatian cities are administratively subdivided into "city districts" (gradski kotari/gradske četvrti) and/or "local committees" (mjesni odbori) with elected councils. The City of Zagreb, as the capital, not being part of any county, is subdivided into both city districts and local committees.[4]
- In December 1992 there were 70 cities and towns and 419 municipalities in Croatia organized into 20 counties (plus the city of Zagreb which is both a city and a county).[5]
- In 2001 there were 122 cities and towns (excluding Zagreb) and 423 municipalities. This was the territorial division used for the 2001 census.[5]
- In 2006 the latest revision was made, which listed a total of 127 cities and towns and 429 municipalities in Croatia. This division was used for the latest 2011 census.[6]
- In 2013 the municipality of Popovača was upgraded to town, bringing the total to 128 cities and towns and 428 municipalities.[7]
According to the Constitution, the city of Zagreb, as the capital of Croatia, has a special status. As such, Zagreb performs self-governing public affairs of both city and county.[8]
Cities (in English these would be called "towns"), within their self-governing scope of activities, perform the tasks of local significance, which directly fulfil the citizens' needs, and which were not assigned to the state bodies by the Constitution or law, particularly the tasks referring to urban design of settlements and dwelling, zoning and urban planning, communal activities, child care, social welfare, primary health care, personality development and primary education, culture, physical culture and sports, consumers protection, protection and improvement of the natural environment, fire and civil defence, local transport.[1]
"Big cities" ("big city" is a Croatian legal term, in English these would be just "cities"), i.e. cities with more than 35,000 inhabitants that are also economic, financial, cultural, public health, scientific or traffic centres and cities that are county seats, in addition to these tasks, are also responsible for tasks regarding public roads maintenance and issuing of building and location permits.[1]
City government
City council (Gradsko vijeće) is the representative body of citizens and the body of local self-government. The councillors are elected for a four-year term on the basis of universal suffrage in direct elections by secret ballot using proportional system with d'Hondt method. The executive head of the city is the mayor (gradonačelnik), also elected in direct elections by majoritarian vote (two-round system) for a four-year term (together with one or two deputy mayors).[9] The mayor (with the deputy mayor/s) can be recalled by a referendum. City administrative departments and services manage administrative procedures in their areas of jurisdiction. The mayor names heads (principals) of the departments and services, who are chosen on the basis of a public competition.[1]