ALILAND Working Group Crnica - 1st meeting

The first meeting of the "Crnica" working group with the mediator and project coordinator was held on March 18, 2025 in Šibenik, starting at 7 p.m. We gathered in the so-called The Orange House, which is now used by non-governmental organizations. The Orange House is a remnant of the glorious past of Šibenik Elektroferoalloy Factory. After the coordinator presented the basic guidelines of the project and some basic project roadmap, a small but interested group of citizens discussed the unenviable situation of the Crnica area. There are many difficulties faced by this terrain from which the factory chimneys were removed almost 30 years ago: for example, traces of slag are still visible on it. Part of that slag was transferred to Ravni Kotari, to the village of Biljane Donje, where pine trees grow from this toxic waste. Due to the lawsuit filed by the inhabitants of the area, the Republic of Croatia is paying huge penalties. We found that by moving the slag from Crnica to Biljane Donje, a connection was established between the two locations.

The working group thought about how to address the wider community of the city, and even the republic, with the challenges faced by the residents of Crnica. They discussed how to include children in the Living Lab process, as well as fellow citizens who carry the memory of the industrial history of Šibenik. Also, one of the discussed themes was how to reach the current users of the area: from residents who use it to walk their dogs to those who fish, or young people who are looking for a break from everyday life on that edge of the city.

A book written on this topic by Živko Lazinica was also discussed. The industrial history of Šibenik is not unambiguous: in particular, at the beginning of the 20th century, Crnica was home to a protochemical industry, one of the few carbide factories in the world in general. The demand for electricity was enormous: as many as two hydroelectric power plants were put into operation for this factory at the nearby Krka waterfalls. Today, it is difficult to imagine how the territory of Crnica had looked like before it was taken over by industry: the creation of historical, urban-landscape, economic-political and visual archives is seen by the group as one of the opportunities to reach the truth about what has been going on in the area and what the possibilities are for the future.

To find out more about the project, please visit artlivinglab blog