Department of Urban Planning, Spatial Planning and Landscape Architecture

The Department consists of four sections: the Section for Urban Planning, the Section for Spatial Planning, the Section for Urban Heritage and the Section for Landscape Architecture. This structure is present in the organisation of research and education at all levels of study - undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate, doctoral and professional studies.
The activities of the department include teaching, research, practice and public activity.
The continuity of teaching urbanism at the University of Zagreb can be traced back to 1935 when Urbanism was introduced in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Zagreb. This is considered as the beginning of urban education at the University and at today's Faculty of Architecture. Since then, the number of urban courses, the number of teaching hours and the number of teachers has increased. During the years, the education process at the Department was developed and enhanced according to this tradition, while being strongly oriented towards the contemporary at the same time.
Although the structure of teaching changed over time, the character of education kept permanent principles of interdisciplinary education based on intertwining urbanism, spatial planning, landscape architecture and other disciplines which are beyond architecture and urbanism, but important for spatial planning and understanding of processes and planning activities. Contemporary teaching takes part in co-operation with faculties and institutions in and outside of Croatia and the introduction of joint workshops (Parallel Workshop) with faculties in Europe.
The Department cherishes research tradition of the Faculty, as well as research specialisation of teachers and the acquisition of doctoral degrees. Research activities at the Department began at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s when the Postgraduate Scientific Study of Urbanism (1969) was founded. The first research project at the Faculty was initiated at the Department of Architecture (1971) when the first M.Sc. titles (1974) were obtained. During the time, the research work was promoted and strengthened by becoming recognised at the Department, whose members are involved in nationally and EU funded research projects. Members of the Department are authors of numerous books and scientific articles published in renowned Croatian and internationally published journals, and they supervise PhD students and visiting researchers.
Practice in urban planning, spatial planning and landscape architecture has always been inseparable from the Department’s activities and it is considered integral part of its activities. Since its foundation in 1938, members of the Department have created numerous - spatial plans, urban plans, impact studies and competition works. The professional work of the Department has always referred to the findings arising from the research projects conducted at the Department.
The members of the Department are involved in various bodies and boards of the University, state ministries and cities - promoting urban and landscape culture, building culture and sustainable urban planning and spatial planning.
The importance of urbanism in the education of architects, as well as the trademark of the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, lies also in the fact that it is the only study of this kind in Croatia, that cherishes both fields (architecture and urbanism) through undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies – entitled Architecture and Urbanism Studies. The Department and its members hold classes in urban studies at other faculties of the University of Zagreb (Agronomy, Forestry, Natural Sciences, Philosophy), other architectural faculties in Croatia (Osijek) and outside Croatia (Mostar).
In addition to regular teaching courses, the Department also offers to students a possibility to gain experience in practice in real life scientific research and professional projects.
The Department of Urban Planning, Spatial Planning and Landscape Architecture is an Associate Member of AESOP.
History of the Department

The introduction of the Urbanism course at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Zagreb in 1935 marks the beginning of the creation of today's Department of Urban Planning, Physical Planning and Landscape Architecture. There can be identified four periods significant for the development of the Department.
In the first period (1935-1945), the Department was named the Department for Urbanism, and the classes were supervised by Stjepan Hribar and Velimir Jamnicky. Courses included were the Organization of Cities and Preservation of Building Monuments. Urbanism was taught at the Faculty of Architecture within the Faculty of Engineering in the third and fourth years. In the last two semesters, the course was conducted within an urban planning workshop. The first diploma in planning was created by Professor Bruno Milić. Several graduate architects who were at the time focused on planning topics soon became the core of the future Department of Urban Planning (Josip Seissel, Dragan Boltar and Bruno Milić).
The second period (1945-1969) was the emergence of a town planning profession, which followed the global development in urban planning and the need for reconstruction after the Second World War. In 1967/68, the number of mandatory and elective courses gradually increased and urban planning was introduced as a dedicated field of study. A postgraduate scientific study of urbanism was also established. This period was denoted by professors Josip Seissel (1945-1965), Dragan Boltar (1945-1983), Bruno Milić (1950-1987), Miroslav Kollenz (1956-1991) and Ante Marinović-Uzelac (1961-1999).
In the third period (1970-1999) the influence of the Department spread outside the Faculty, and planning profession itself became more interdisciplinary. This period was marked by Professor Ante Marinović-Uzelac. In 1969, he founded the first postgraduate study at the Faculty of Architecture entitled "Urbanism and Spatial Planning", which is still running in a slightly modified form. The Department participated in the foundation of university studies (Traffic, Ecology) and postgraduate studies in the area of landscape planning and design, at first with the Faculty of Agriculture from Zagreb and the Faculty of Biotechnology from Ljubljana and later with the Faculty of Forestry from Zagreb. International cooperation was performed in the form of participation in international projects and in the scientific and professional specialisation of the Department members in France, USA, Germany, Netherlands and Italy. Many new elective courses were also introduced during this period, and the number of teachers in the Department increased.
The fourth period (since 2000) has been marked by a shift of generations and a new curriculum (the Bologna European University Education System), which has brought significant changes in the education of architects in Croatia. The teaching of urban planning takes on new forms (joint studies of architecture and urbanism, exchange of teachers and students from European universities, etc.). The number of new teachers, scholars and assistants is increasing. Research activities, international cooperation, participation of students in research projects are intensifying. Significant activity is focused on improving teaching and adapting curriculum to contemporary needs. The long-term goal of the Department is to establish a Graduate Study of Urban Planning, Spatial Planning and Landscape Architecture.
The position of the Head of the Department was held by: Josip Seissel (1959-1965), Dragan Boltar (1965-1969), Bruno Milić (1969-1973), Ante Marinović-Uzelac (1973-1993 and 1997- 1999), Oleg Grgurević (1993-1997), Mladen Obad Šćitaroci (1999-2005 and 2007-2013), Sonja Jurković (2005-2007), Krunoslav Šmit (2013 - 2016 and 2022.-) and Bojana Bojanić Obad Šćitaroci (2016-2018, 2018-2020, and 2020-2022).