Context, needs and opportunities: In relation to utility infrastructure and the attitude towards its environment, Rijeka is at a high level, but there are also visible elements that need to be improved. Rijeka has an excellent water supply network, but the sewage system covers less territory. In terms of waste management, the collection and treatment system is satisfactory, but there are challenges in the field of waste management, which is not completely solved even at national level. Its inhabitants are only partially aware of the importance of household waste management and the concept of the circular economy. The city has already established itself in relation to sustainable, circular space management, given that the ECOC project in terms of infrastructure focused on the use of existing unused premises and industrial heritage, and such an approach towards space management will continue. Sustainable management of premises and resources in the city development plan is complemented by stronger connections between the city and its surroundings, both in cooperation within the Urban Agglomeration and through the promotion of food based on the immediate environment as a healthier, environmentally sustainable and economically viable supply.

The following are the topics included by this segment:

1. Waste disposal,
2. Water supply and sewage,
3. Spatial planning,
4. Reuse of existing unused premises (circular space management),
5. Green infrastructure,
6. Maintenance of city areas,
7. Connection with the hinterland and healthy food supply

Following this, three specific goals have been devised as a basis for the implementation of measures and activities to make Rijeka a city of efficient public infrastructure and sustainable environmental management. The mentioned goals refer to the improvement of public utility services and infrastructure, primarily in the areas of waste management, water supply and sewage, and sustainable management of natural resources and the environment.

In relation to the horizontal goal Smart Rijeka in 2030, the intention of the City through the specific goal 4.1. is to develop smart solutions in the field of utility services through the implementation of systems based on new technologies, for the purpose of improving water and utility infrastructure, heating systems and waste management systems.

Measures tied to Strategic goal 4 Preserve Rijeka in 2030

Specific goal       4.1.City offering smart and quality utility services (H)

Rijeka in 2030 is a city of excellent utility services that ensure a balance between the quality of life of citizens and the cost of living in the city and the preservation of the environment. The city is fully networked by a modern and clean water supply and sewage systems with 99.9% connections to the water supply, 90% connection to the swage system, while the remaining 10% of households in isolated elevated areas have in other environmentally friendly manners solved the sewage problem. The city has a separate waste collection system with underground containers and manages all types of waste in an environmentally friendly manner. Its inhabitants are educated and apply the principles of the circular economy in a responsible and conscious way in everyday life, so the total amount of waste produced is falling.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Percentage of water loss in the water supply network
• Percentage of population connected to the wastewater treatment system
• Percentage of total separately collected waste in the city area per capita (plastic, paper, bio waste, glass, metal, bulky waste)
• Percentage of citizens connected to the gas network
• integrated maintenance of utility vehicles

In order to ensure the achievement of the described goal, it is necessary to launch the following measures, activities and projects:

• Improvement in water and utility infrastructure in the territory of the Rijeka Agglomeration
• Increasing the efficiency of the district heating system
• Development of a smart waste management system
• Plan for energy and climate of sustainable Rijeka

Specific goal 4.2. Green city by the sea: space in the service of citizens

In its spatial development, over the next 10 years Rijeka will be focused on responding to the needs of citizens for a quality and comfortable life in the community on the one hand, and preserving the environment and preventing climate change on the other. Rijeka’s spatial development is limited by its specific geographical position, so physical circumstances encourage it to behave particularly responsibly towards its spatial resources.

Therefore, Rijeka is committed to the basic guidelines relating to green development, which will ensure that the city lives harmoniously with the environment in and around its territory, thus preventing and mitigating the effects of climate change.

We see Rijeka in 2030 as a city with a lot of green infrastructure that mitigates and prevents the effects of climate change and makes it a more pleasant place to live, as an example of a coastal and industrial city that has successfully converted its unused premises to a new public or economic purpose. In 2030, Rijeka is a city open to the sea in which the former industrial premises between the sea and its centre have been revitalized and are open to citizens, tourists and small businesses. It has a highly developed community spirit and a high quality of life in neighbourhoods with which people identify, where without the need to use transport they have access to public and commercial facilities, greenery and other forms of public life, which encourages them to local action, to connect and participate in the attractiveness of Rijeka for life. The city has available premises by using and revitalizing the existing facilities and industrial and cultural heritage, which have been brought back to life.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• area of parks, playgrounds and places for rest
• air quality
• area of organised beaches
• length of arranged promenades by the sea

In order to ensure the achievement of the described goal, it is necessary to launch the following measures, activities and projects:

• Green infrastructure
• Rijeka by the sea and the Rječina river
• City of connected neighbourhoods

Specific objective 4.3. A city of circular resource management, connected to the entire region

Rijeka wants to develop as a sustainable and resilient city that provides a large part of the resources from the environment and which in the use of spatial, energy and food resources generates itself or relying on what it has or can reuse. The city does not want to expand at the expense of the environment and green areas, but to focus on spatial development on the renewal and revitalization of existing urban areas, bearing in mind energy efficiency and the principles of the circular economy.

Both in relation to its historical heritage and in relation to human resources for the future, in relation to supply, recreational facilities, local food, the city is oriented to the Urban Agglomeration and the entire Primorje-Gorski Kotar County as its natural centre. Therefore, quality connection with local and regional self-government units is considered a prerequisite for successful development of the city.

The sustainable development and development of a shock-resistant city that it can receive during global crises largely depends on the ability of its administration and residents to make the most of all existing resources, recycling, repairing, rebuilding them provided they find what they cannot produce and find in the immediate vicinity with as little energy consumption as possible and with as little environmental pollution as possible. This is in line with the guidelines for the development of Rijeka as a healthy city, as well as Rijeka as a green city.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Percentage of green public supply in the public supply of the city and city institutions and companies
• number of family farms in city markets
• number and value of joint projects with other local governments within the urban agglomeration

In order to ensure the achievement of the described goal, it is necessary to launch the following measures, activities and projects:

• Circular space management: reuse of existing spatial resources
• A city that buys green: Green public supply
• Citizens who buy green: a programme of local eco-markets
• Rijeka Urban Agglomeration