The Mayor of the City of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, together with Deputy Mayors Danijela Dolenec and Luka Korlaet, presented the results of the greening project of city courtyards at Zvonimirova Street 13 on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. The inner courtyards of city blocks, which for decades were mostly concreted or neglected, are being transformed by this project into green oases for residents to meet, relax and spend time. At the same time, they cool the city during the summer months, increase biodiversity and contribute to the quality of life in city blocks.
"The concept of green courtyards is based on the City providing initial investments in greening and landscaping, while after the work is completed, the residents themselves take over maintenance. This is something that originated in Zagreb, and is now being studied by other European cities in order to transfer it to their environments," said Mayor Tomašević.
A total of 14 city courtyards have been landscaped so far. Seven of them were implemented during the pilot phase of the project in 2025, while an additional seven were developed this year as part of the European project ActGREEN - Activating Green Yards for Carbon Neutrality, which the City of Zagreb is implementing in cooperation with the Faculty of Agriculture, the Croatian Association of Landscape Architects and the ODRAZ association. The project is co-financed with 75% of European Union funds, and this year it was awarded the Croatian Chamber of Architects' medal for innovation and sustainability.
"From day one, we were determined that our yard would never be a car park or garage. We have always wanted more greenery. That is why I thank you for this wonderful initiative, which has greatly helped us to refine our urban style of living," said Ida Martinjak, representative of the co-owners.
The project documentation has been prepared for 17 new locations, and the value of the work carried out so far is almost 700,000 euros.
"In the last four years, we have quadrupled the number of trees we plant in public areas. However, in the city center, due to underground infrastructure, it is often difficult and expensive to plant new trees. Therefore, inner city courtyards are an excellent opportunity to increase green areas that equally contribute to cooling the city and reducing the heat island effect, as well as improving air quality," said Mayor Tomašević.
Deputy Mayor Luka Korlaet pointed out that the greening of courtyards is part of a broader program of urban revitalization of Zagreb. A tender for the renovation of facades was recently held, which is fully financed from the monument rent, and a list of 65 buildings that will be renovated has been formed. In parallel, graffiti removal is being carried out, for which almost 600 representatives of co-owners have applied, also fully financed from the city budget, with graffiti being removed along entire street sections to make the effect visually more complete.
"This is a systematic action that includes greening, facade renovation, landscaping of plateaus, co-financing the installation of elevators, expanding pedestrian zones and installing storage tanks to make Zagreb more beautiful, cleaner and more livable," concluded Deputy Mayor Korlaet.
Source:
G.Zagreb, official website
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Additional information on urban revitalization:
LINK, and other important strategies for green urban renewal:
LINK, and the CCC action plan:
LINK and the City of Zagreb climate change mitigation program:
LINK.
