The final conference of the CRESCO Adria Project (Climate RESilent COastal Planning in the Adriatic) was held at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Rijeka on 15th September 2026, marking the completion of two and a half years of collaborative work by seven Croatian and Italian institutions dedicated to strengthening the climate resilience of the Adriatic coastal area.
In the introductory part of the conference, Professor Saša Drezgić, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Rijeka, extended a special welcome to Adam Butigan, Director of the Institute for Physical Planning of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, thanking him for the excellent cooperation and partnership while expressing hope for collaboration on potential future projects.
Manager of the project, Associate Professor Davor Mance, PhD, highlighted the importance of adapting to all challenges posed by climate change, listing the most significant activities and results within the project work packages that contributed to achieving the project goal: increasing the capacity of urban coastal areas and communities to respond to climate change.
Representatives of the Institute for Physical Planning of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, who were responsible for the implementation of the first work package: Integral adaptation in the spatial planning process, presented the results of the project they were responsible for developing: the Application for visualising spatial resilience indicators and Strategic guidelines for climate-resilient spatial planning. The strategic guidelines established a methodological framework that provides spatial planners, as well as all those who manage space, with a structured approach – from identifying climate risks to their integration into specific spatial planning tools and provisions.
The conference was attended by numerous representatives from the relevant ministries: the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, as well as representatives of public administration and universities. At the conference, information and opinions were successfully and constructively exchanged, and starting points for future work and collaboration were established.
The CRESCO Adria project was implemented within the framework of the INTERREG Italy – Croatia 2021 – 2027 programme, lasting from 1st April 2024 to 30th September 2026, with a total approved budget of €1,928,010.59. The lead partner of the project was the Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, while the other partners were the Institute for Physical Planning of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, the Municipality of Sali, the Town of Crikvenica, the University of Camerino and the Region of Abruzzo. More information about the project is available at: https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/crescoadria.