Otočki ljetopis 2, Cres Ilovik Lošinj Srakane Susak Unije, Fond za unapređenje kulturnih djelatnosti općine Cres-Lošinj, Mali Lošinj, 1975
From the current spatial plan of the City of Mali Lošinj (2016). Source: https://www.mali-losinj.hr/sluzbene-informacije/prostorni-planovi/
The war has taken its toll, of course. If there was no war, probably many things would have been realized.
Julijano Sokolić in conversation with Anamarija Batista in the summer of 2019 in Mali Lošinj. The conversation was videorecorded by Goran Škofić.
JS: So, we initiated a new spatial plan that included six studies. The first study was general, focusing on sociology, population and so on. The second was about tourism. The third was about fisheries. The fourth discussed some segment of economy, and the most important one, interestingly, was the seventh study, which we were barely able to finish. It was a conservation feasibility study, which encompassed all of the existing monuments, from the cemetery to everything else. We adopted that plan in 1989, and it was certainly one of the best studies, and it was done in collaboration with the urban planning institute in Zagreb. Anyway, it was launched in 1989, I was still working at the municipal offices at the time. Afterwards, we drafted some plans for the villages, but this was on the level of Cres-Lošinj municipality (Cres and Lošinj functioned as a single unit back then). Later Cres got its own master plan for urban development, Lošinj got its own, too, and so did the other places on the island.
Anyway, the plan included the entire picture, I think. Now was time to form a managerial plan, you know, to valorise the historical heritage, and to identify it first, to see what to do with all that in the future. And that certainly was a big deal because we have lots of treasures here. So many people were coming to this island since the ancient past, starting from the Illyrians, and the Romans, and then the Slavs came, and many others in the meantime – the Byzantines, the Venetians and so on. So, there are many layers here, and one has to take all that into account.
So we were to draft a managerial plan that was supposed to be financed by the World Bank. There was a special atmosphere, I would say, among the people. Assemblies were organised, surveys were made… It was nice, it was interesting. In order to understand things, man had to learn about them, you know. I needed quite some time too, as I am an engineer. Other locals, too, needed the information. They wanted to know how to approach this new plan.
But the war has taken its toll, of course. If there was no war, probably many things would have been realized.