- Client
- City of Dubrovnik
- Location
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Category
- Urbanism
- Status
- 1st Place
Dubrovnik’s center is surrounded by walls dating back to the 7th century. Though these were originally constructed to protect citizens from bellic invaders, the walls acquired a new kind of enemy in the era of post-turism: The low cost planes and cruise ship tour packages. Aware of the touristic pressure on local life, the city of Dubrovnik held a contest inside the framework of Europan 2011.
The contest asked for proposals to re-activate the area around one of three main gates to the city center, by requesting a design for a new public building. Against all rules, we formulated a counterproposal, which ended up founding an urbanistic lemma that would define us in the years to come: Back To Citizens.
CITIES FOR CITIZENS:
AN ISSUE OF MOBILITY AND DENSITY
Dubrovnik is defined by three areas. There is the city center surrounded by walls, the coastal area, and residential space in the hinterland. Surrounded by a green belt but mostly used as parking lot, you enter Dubrovnik’s center through three gates, two of which are overly densified by mass tourism and frustrated citizens (Pile, Ploče), and one (Buža) that is rarely used due to its lack of civic equipment. This last area was the “Behind the city” plot, and designated as the new space for Dubrovnik’s citizens by the local government.
As the name already suggests, the area lies behind the city, implying that it is not actually part of the city. Dubrovnik indeed planned to give space to its citizens, but ignored the central city space it had lost to tourism. This is where we proposed “Back to citizens”, a strategic urban plan that takes into account the whole city as a space for and of citizens. The project refused to see the wall as a border between visitor and resident, and turned it into a point of connection for a growing city. To design cities for citizens means thinking about their mobility and density. Not just in one area, but all around.
DESIGNING FROM THE VOID:
THREE NEW NODES AND THE URBAN PROMENADE
As the architect and theorist Camillo Sitte wrote, “Architecture is at the service of the citizen. Planning should be a creative art, and the interplay between public buildings and open spaces is paramount to good planning”. Back to citizens starts its design from the urban void in Dubrovnik, which it found in the three gates leading to the city center. Instead of serving as mere parking space, the three areas were reframed as public plazas, their location already validated by time. Located right outside Dubrovnik’s wall, they became three new centralities in Dubrovnik, taking off pressure from the center.
The three new nodes were then connected by a pedestrian promenade, inviting people to dwell in Dubrovnik’s green belt. The promenade starts at the main gate of the city, where we can also find a bus station that allows movement out of the city. Arriving at the second node, we weave the old and new urban fabric together by building volumes in the same size as their historical counterparts. The end point of the promenade is the border with the sea, which again invites to further explore the Croatian landscape beyond Dubrovnik.
A DENSE WAY OF LIVING:
THE LAYERED SOCIETY
Urbanism focussed on citizens doesn’t only take into account the built environment. It also includes the particular way of life led inside of it. If we want to build for a particular urban culture, we need a mixed use of space, which means quality housing, retail, hospitality, offices, nature and public service coexist around all urban nodes in the city. These are the ingredients for a dense and varied community, one that lives on after closing hours. Dubrovnik’s promenade therefore comes in three levels, which are connected by open staircases giving way to views over the wall as people ascend to the top levels.
- The lowest level is meant for temporary leisure and cultural activities: Summer festivals, music concerts, outdoor cinemas, sports etc. The space under the upper level is used for storage, so the public space can return to its original state after an event. Parking space is stored under the main buildings.
- The second level is a new commercial and social hub. The wide promenade comes with local retail and public facilities, where both inhabitants and tourists have the space to enjoy the city.
- The upper level is meant to link public and residential space. Small squares collect the circulation of people going down the wall and give access to new housing.
