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traffic and its impact on morphological and functional urban development: case studies of bjelovar, sisak, and koprivnica Mirela Slukan Altić Key words: urban development, traffic network, Croatian towns, morphological urban structure, functional urban structure, historical geography. introduction Traffic is one of the dominant factors that influence the location of emerging towns, their spatial development (i.e., their morphological structure), and their functional structure (i.e., the spatial order of their functional zones and buildings with central functions). Although the extent of human mobility and the transportation of goods changes significantly over time, traffic always has a significant impact on the construction of urban architecture and the spatial distribution of a town’s activities. As a rule, towns are important intersections of roads that serve a wide area. Therefore, in order insure a better understanding of the spatial structure and development of a town, attention will be paid to both traffic within a town and traffic between that town and its surrounding area or region. This paper will analyse the relationship between traffic and the development of three different Croatian towns: Bjelovar, Sisak, and Koprivnica. These towns developed under significantly different historical and geographical conditions. Traffic played a crucial role in the development of each one, but with significantly different results. 277 case : bjelovar impact of the traffic network on the location of a future town Bjelovar was a military-border town that was established by an Act of Empress Maria Theresa in 1756 as the new seat of the Varaždin Generalate1 (a part of the Croatian Military Border). Before this, the placename referred only a guard-house on the border located in the general area of the future town. This station can be found for the first time on Johan Winkler’s map of 1639, where the traffic network of the future town of Bjelovar can also be seen. According to this map, we can see that even before the formal establishment of the town of Bjelovar, its location was on the local route connecting Slavonia (at that time still under Ottoman rule) and Križevci (an important military fortress). That route was not of great importance in terms of traffic, and this is the case today as well2 . The town was established in this quite unfavourable communications position due to security reasons. After the territorial reorganisation of the Varaždin Generalate and legal reforms which significantly reduced the Military Border Rights, in nearby Severin there was a rebellion amongst the soldiers of the Military Border (the Severin Rebellion)3 . Although the Habsburg Monarchy succeeded in putting down the rebellion at the Military Border, a decision was made to designate a new seat of the Generalate which had to be somewhere in the centre of the Military Border territory so that the border soldiers could be kept under better control.4 Therefore, in 1756 the decision to plan the building of the town of Bjelovar had already been made. Bjelovar was placed right on the boundary separating of the Križevci and Đurđevac regiments, which were both part of the Varaždin Generalate. Thus, the designation the new town’s position was made administratively, primarily in accordance with the 1 The Generalate was named after the town of Varaždin, where the seat of the Generalate was located until 1731, after which it was moved to Koprivnica. 2 One of the most important problems in the town of Bjelovar even today is its bad traffic position. The important traffic routes that connect Slavonia with northwest Croatia follow the rivers Sava and Drava. Bjelovar is located between the two rivers and is bordered on the the west by the Bilogora mountain massif, which creates a traffic dead end at the town. 3 More about this see in Moačanin, Fedor (1984): Vojna krajina do kantonskog uređenja 1787, (The Military Border until Canton Organisation in 1787), chapter: Vojna krajina (The Military Border) (ed. Dragutin Pavličević), Zagreb, pp. 23-56 4 The previous seat of the Generalate, Koprivnica, was located on the northernmost edge of the Military Border territory. In addition, Koprivnica had the status of a free royal town, which caused problems with the Military Border administration. There was constant disagreement between the civil and military authorities, which restricted the development of the town. See: Kaser, Karl: Slobodan seljak i vojnik (Free Peasant and Soldier), Zagreb: Naprijed, part I, pp. 104-105. traffic and its impact on morphological and functional urban development: case studies of bjelovar, sisak, and...

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