Introduction
In the Mediterranean, many ancient and historic cities embody rapid urban expansion into the modern era, where centuries-old urban centres—often protected by historic preservation and conservation initiatives—are now surrounded by a more homogenised landcover of residential, commercial and industrial spaces. For much of their histories, these cities were encircled by traditional forms of agricultural green space and the field architecture that commonly accompanied them. Although many cities experienced moderate growth since their founding, the expansion of urban landcover onto these green spaces accelerated rapidly in the twentieth century, with notable examples documented for cities in Italy (Salvati et al. Reference Salvati2012), Spain (Pascual Aguilar et al. Reference Pascual Aguilar and Kepner2006; Alvarez-Palau et al. Reference Alvarez-Palau2019), the Maghreb region of North Africa (Ben Salem et al. Reference Ben Salem2021), Greece (Salvati et al. Reference Salvati2013) and Croatia (Zaro et al. Reference Zaro2023). Prior to this, the intimate connection between these cities and their surrounding agricultural lands constituted a major dimension of their urban identity and locally distinctive character.
Undoubtedly, legacies of these former landscapes persist among many urban and peri-urban spaces today in ways that are locally distinctive to each cultural and historical tradition. As a concept, local distinctiveness is closely connected to identity and sense of place (Davis Reference Davis and Corsane2005; Loveday Reference Loveday2011; ElHosary et al. Reference ElHosary2018; Jarratt et al. Reference Jarratt2019). It emerges from the intersection of culture, history and environment over the course of many centuries, and it can be reflected in both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. From a materials science perspective, local distinctiveness is perhaps most visible in the urban built environment, often protected through architectural conservation and historic preservation initiatives that promote the physical identity of places, structures, artistic sculptures, building materials and other architectural features (Rodwell Reference Rodwell2007: 185–86). This array of openly visible monuments and buildings creates a locally and culturally distinctive urban landscape that conveys a unique history. As cities evolve over time, their locally distinctive characters become embedded in their built environments, helping to distinguish one place from another.
Equally important, we argue, is the expression of local distinctiveness through green heritage within and around the city. Green heritage can refer to any number of traditionally important green spaces, including historic parks, cemeteries, gardens and agricultural fields (Tekeli & Turer Baskaya Reference Tekeli and Turer Baskaya2015; Ben Salem et al. Reference Ben Salem2021; Mazirh et al. Reference Mazirh2023). In some cases, the value of living green heritage for sustainability, place identity and urban spatial planning is boosted by recognising and promoting its cultural and historical significance. In Istanbul, Türkiye, for instance, rapid urbanisation threatens historic parks, gardens, cemeteries and groves. Recognition of these spaces as living forms of heritage raises awareness about their cultural value, strengthening the argument for their protection in terms of both ecological sustainability and creative urban design strategies that promote a sense of place (Kaya & Akyol Reference Kaya and Akyol2013).
Similarly, in Ancona, Italy, traditional olive groves are recognised as an important part of the historic agrarian landscape and of place identity. Advocates for their protection in urban and peri-urban areas argue that their persistence supports not only biodiversity and climate regulation, but also the cultural identity of the city. They also call for integrating landscape heritage into planning policies with local community engagement (Pantaloni et al. Reference Pantaloni2025). The need for co-operation between different stakeholders (e.g. local communities, educators, municipal leaders) has been emphasised elsewhere to ensure that the historic and traditional persist alongside the newly transformed in creative ways (Theodora Reference Theodora2020).
As historic preservation and conservation efforts increasingly embrace a broader range of heritage values (Aplin Reference Aplin2007; Liang et al. Reference Liang2023), legacies of green heritage can be emphasised to further promote and protect the locally distinctive characters and cultural identities of many Mediterranean cities. A notable example is Valencia, Spain, a centre of urban life for more than two millennia (Aranegui Reference Aranegui2011). Since about the eighth century AD, the city has evolved alongside L’Horta, an elaborate system of acequias (irrigation canals) and associated fields that has traditionally served as its social and economic engine (Houston Reference Houston1949; Esquilache Reference Esquilache, Kirchner and Sabaté2021). Valencia’s expansion onto L’Horta over the past century has prompted recent studies to examine its impact on urban spatial design, including instances where the routes of historic acequias are aligned with the current spatial structuring of the city (Ikemoto et al. Reference Ikemoto2021). Despite urban growth, L’Horta remains a defining symbol of the region’s locally distinctive character, in part through its continuation at the margins of urban landcover and beyond, but also through its promotion in historic architectural decoration, local cuisine and tourism (Prytherch & Boira Maiques Reference Prytherch and Boira Maiques2009). Consequently, L’Horta remains not only a symbolic legacy landscape within the city but also a living heritage with significant public value for residents and visitors alike.
Archaeology and other historical disciplines are well equipped to detect the ways in which legacies of past landscapes continue to be reflected within the urban morphologies of contemporary cityscapes. A necessary precursor to this approach is to define changes in the relationship between urban landcover and green space over long periods of time. Zaro and colleagues (Reference Zaro2023) did this for the city of Zadar, Croatia, by documenting the pace of urban landscape change over the course of millennia, stressing the persistence of green space through time and its value to the city’s urban ecological resilience. This article builds on that research by recognising the legacies of the historic landscape around the twenty-first-century city and promoting their importance to Zadar’s contemporary urban identity and sense of place.
Legacies of green heritage can be expressed today in the surviving relics of landesque capital (e.g. terraces, drystone walls), in vegetation and field management practices (e.g. species presence, species diversity, intercropping) and in the organisation of contemporary urban and peri-urban spaces. They may also be reflected in the continuation of historic or more ancient agricultural practices into the present era. Drawing from archaeological and historical records, historic aerial imagery, cadastral maps and contemporary city plans, we detect four primary expressions of green heritage around Zadar that we believe warrant documentation, public recognition and, in some cases, protection: 1) Roman centuriation, visible as regularly spaced orthogonal alignments across the landscape; 2) relic fields with drystone walls and cairns, often seen as unkept green spaces within and around the margins of the city; 3) spatial organisation of streets and neighbourhoods beyond the historic old town centre, many of which align with the historic patterns of agricultural land use they replaced; and 4) living fields and gardens, generally in the form of groves and vineyards among peri-urban spaces, but also in the assortment of fruits and vegetables grown in the many house-lot gardens across the city. Documentation of these green heritage legacies helps to not only preserve a valuable archive of information about Zadar’s millennial-scale past, but also to promote and protect an often-overlooked aspect of its locally distinctive character and historic urban identity in the twenty-first century.
Zadar, Croatia
The 3000-year-old city of Zadar is situated in a unique coastal setting on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, perched on a peninsula partly separated from the mainland by a small harbour (Figure 1). Its earliest peninsular settlement dates to the Liburnian Iron Age, early in the first millennium BC (Batović Reference Batović and Ravlić1964; Čondić & Vuković Reference Čondić and Vuković2017), evolving into a Roman colony nearly a millennium later (Wilkes Reference Wilkes1969; Suić Reference Suić2003). The settlement persisted as a walled peninsular city through the Middle Ages (seventh–fifteenth centuries AD) and into the Early Modern Era (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries AD) (Raukar et al. Reference Raukar1987; Jović Gazić Reference Jović Gazić2011), with the surrounding landscape remaining predominantly agrarian throughout much of its history. Although the landscape during antiquity is not well understood, reflections of Roman centuriation, a form of agrarian land survey, have been identified in the vicinity of Zadar (Suić Reference Suić2003) and are the subject of ongoing work (discussed below). In the subsequent Middle Ages and Early Modern Era, historic sources characterise a landscape of agriculture and livestock, with infields of viticulture and olive trees and outfields of grain. Figs, mulberries, plums and other fruits were also common (Peričić Reference Peričič1999: 25–26). By the nineteenth century, there were a growing number of vineyards and olive groves, prompting a traveller in 1811 to comment that, although very rocky, the plain behind Zadar was beautifully cultivated with olives, grapes and figs (Peričić Reference Peričič1999: 141). Smaller areas of built-up space gradually began to appear beyond the peninsula as early as the Roman era, but it was not until the latter part of the twentieth century that urban landcover began to alter the surrounding landscape in profound ways, expanding onto the centuries-to-millennia-old agricultural green spaces that supported the city (Zaro et al. Reference Zaro2023).
Modern urban Zadar with marked areas of interest: a) historic peninsula; b) peri-urban green spaces with field architecture; c) surveyed neighbourhoods to assess alignments of streets and historic field boundaries; d) contemporary groves; and e) house-lot garden survey areas. The white box marks the land shown in Figure 2. Base map ESRI 2024 satellite image via QGIS v.3.24.2 (figure by authors).
Zadar’s historic centre has endured nearly three millennia of urban change, where continuous construction and renovation have left behind relics of earlier periods. Over time, Zadar’s archaeological and historical heritage has become an important cultural element within the living city and part of its urban identity (Rukavina & Obad Šćitaroci Reference Rukavina and Obad Šćitaroci2017). Its integration into contemporary urban spaces has thus resulted in a distinctive character, rooted in the arrangement of ancient ruins, historic buildings and monuments, churches, open spaces and fortification walls in a unique peninsular setting. Elements of the old town are protected by historic preservation initiatives, including those of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and UNESCO, but major construction projects continue across mainland parts of the city. Today, Zadar reflects a historic mono-centric peninsular core surrounded by a more homogenised pattern of twentieth- and twenty-first-century urban landcover. Yet, the many relics of cultivated fields, historic field boundaries, field architecture and other indicators of agricultural practices continue to constitute a key class of green heritage within and beyond the margins of the city.
A historic portrait of Zadar’s green heritage landscapes
Two sources of information help to create a vivid portrait of the green heritage landscape that preceded Zadar’s rapid urban expansion in the second half of the twentieth century: the Austrian cadastre of 1826 and British Royal Air Force (RAF) imagery from 1944. Although these provide only two snapshots of land cover in the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, respectively, they generate considerable insight into historic land-use features and the kinds of material indicators of green heritage legacies that should be expected in the contemporary urban setting.
Austrian cadastre of 1826
The Franciscan cadastre was introduced for taxation purposes to the Austrian part of the Habsburg monarchy early in the nineteenth century, providing an excellent registry of land use and spatial organisation prior to twentieth-century urban expansion (Lisec & Navratil Reference Lisec and Navratil2014). The cadastre depicts an organically arranged mosaic of agricultural green space classifications around Zadar that include cultivated fields, gardens, grasslands, vineyards and olive groves, with the latter two categories commonly represented in the immediate vicinity of the historic city (Figure 2). The cadastre is digitised, georeferenced and openly accessible (https://maps.arcanum.com/en/). Its overlay with contemporary city plans and images facilitates visualisation of the relationships between the organisation of agricultural space in 1826 (and certainly earlier) and the layout of the twenty-first century city.
A portion of the 1826 Austrian cadastre depicting the organisation of agrarian space prior to urban landcover (see Figure 1, white box). Image courtesy of State Archives in Zadar (1823–1839). Plan of Zadar cadastral municipality (Zara Commune), Cadastral Survey Directorate (HR-DAZD-382, 449), Zadar, Croatia.
Royal Airforce imagery from 1944
In the 1940s, the RAF produced aerial photographs of several regions along the coast of Croatia, creating high-quality, black-and-white images of urban centres and their surrounding landscapes (Bradford Reference Bradford1957). Using Agisoft Photoscan software, we produced a single georeferenced orthophoto from eight digitised images that covered most of the spatial extent of Zadar’s contemporary urban landcover. The final product depicts the historic urban nucleus covering the peninsula and immediate mainland shoreline, surrounded by a distinctive agrarian landscape of drystone walls and cairns. The persistence of Roman centuriation, commissioned two millennia ago, is also clearly visible in the orthophoto as a regularly spaced orthogonal grid preserved across a portion of the landscape (Figure 3).
Georeferenced 1944 orthophoto showing pronounced agrarian infrastructure. Roman centuriation is visible as the light-coloured and regularly spaced orthogonal grid; drystone walls are visible in the organic web of light coloured rectilinear and curvilinear features. Digitised Royal Air Force images courtesy of Geodetski zavod d.d. Split, Croatia (figure by authors).
Legacies of green heritage in twenty-first-century Zadar
Utilising geographic information systems software, our approach combines the historic cadastre and RAF photographs with contemporary city plans, satellite imagery and ground observations to identify four legacies of green heritage among Zadar’s contemporary urban and peri-urban spaces today.
Roman centuriation
Among the most valuable components of Zadar’s historic green heritage is the expression of ancient centuriation across the landscape. Centuriation was the systematic Roman division of cultivable land into quadrants, or centuriae, which formed a regularly spaced grid of boundary lines across the surveyed landscape (Campbell Reference Campbell2000). It was based on a network of wide roads (limites), and its persistence through time is due to the arrangement and continued maintenance of rural roads and drystone walls across centuries. Roman centuriae commonly measured 20 actus per side, or about 710m—a measurement regularly identified around the Mediterranean (Bradford Reference Bradford1957: 145). Legacies of centuriation are occasionally detectable in historic and even contemporary aerial imagery, and their presence is observable in the 1944 orthophoto (see Figure 3). Their origination as ancient Roman centuriae is supported, in part, by their regular spacing of approximately 710m.
The total extent of centuriation has not yet been verified and remains a subject of debate. On the mainland immediately surrounding the city, interpretations of its extent have ranged from Diklo in the north to Bibinje in the south (Jakšić Reference Jakšić1986; Suić Reference Suić2003: 166), or even farther south to Sukošan (Bradford Reference Bradford1957: 182; Maršić Reference Maršić1993) and to Zemunik in the interior (Jakšić Reference Jakšić2024). In the broader vicinity, topographic maps may suggest that centuriation stretched as far inland as Poličnik (Kadi Reference Kadi2020). Ongoing analysis and interpretation of lidar data since 2025 by Tomislav Zojčeski and Eva Buća (Ruina d.o.o.) is beginning to provide some clarity, as this allows for more precise terrain mapping and the detection of obscure geometric alignments. Thus far, the data indicate orthogonal patterning measuring 710m per side, marked by long, regular embankments or by collapsed walls. A preliminary survey, conducted under the auspices of the Sjeti Me Se (SMS) project, has begun to confirm some instances visible in the lidar data, but continued on-the-ground archaeological documentation is still needed in most cases. The results point to an area of Roman centuriation much larger than previously thought, extending from Petrčane in the north-west, to Poličnik and Zemunik toward the interior and to Biograd in the south-east (Figure 4). Across the Zadar channel, recent work has also proposed that the entire island of Ugljan had been incorporated into the centuriation system (Kadi Reference Kadi2016). Lidar data confirm this observation while also pointing to centuriation on the island of Pašman to its south-east (Zojčeski & Buća Reference Zojčeski and Buća2025).
Patterns of Roman centuriation in the Zadar area, as suggested by the 1944 orthophoto (blue); as proposed by Maršić (Reference Maršić1993) (blue dashed); and as documented (black) and proposed (black dashed) by Kadi (Reference Kadi2016) for Ugljan Island. Lidar data suggest centuriation extended more broadly from Petrčane in the north-west, to Poličnik in the interior, to Biograd in the south-east, and onto Pašman Island (figure by authors).
Despite being one of the most remarkably preserved examples of Roman land division in the Mediterranean, this landscape remains insufficiently recognised or valued within Zadar’s public, scientific and spatial planning discourse. Centuriation reflects not only Roman engineering and its agrarian legacy, but also a continuity of land use that has shaped Zadar and its countryside into the present era. New research directions aim to integrate this system into the contemporary context of spatial heritage, agrarian history and cultural identity. Among the most important discoveries of this new work are the systems of drystone walls associated with the centuriation grid and the remains of Roman architecture, such as villae rusticae, smaller forts and other structures (Baraka Perica & Jurković Pešić Reference Baraka Perica and Jurković Pešić2024). A substantial part of the centuriated landscape beyond the limits of the city retains green-space functions (e.g. forested areas, cultivated fields, fallow lands), which allows for their continued archaeological investigation without the burden of urban landcover.
Relic fields with dilapidated field architecture
One of the most striking features evident in the 1944 orthophoto is the web of drystone walls draped over a landscape that is now mostly buried by urban landcover (see Figure 3). The semi-regular and organic patterning of field architecture evident in the image is comparable to the enclosed karst clearings described elsewhere in the region (Andlar et al. Reference Andlar2018: 770–71). Many were likely created through field clearance practices intended to improve the terrain for cultivation. Their formation would have also served as a stabilising feature of the agricultural landscape by slowing surface runoff, improving infiltration during precipitation events and limiting the downslope movement of soil. Drystone walls are a form of landesque capital (Håkansson & Widgren Reference Håkansson and Widgren2014) and are prominent features of the agrarian landscape. Their tremendous cultural value in Croatia and other European nations was formally recognised by UNESCO in 2018, when the ‘art of drystone walling, knowledge and techniques’ was inscribed into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (https://ich.unesco.org/en/decisions/13.COM/10.B.10). In the immediate vicinity of Zadar, the most extensive examples of drystone walls are found at the margins of urban landcover to the city’s north and south (see Figure 1, label b).
Within the limits of urban landcover, legacies of this green heritage have survived as unkept green spaces. Most are small, ranging from 5–10ha or larger, and overgrown with a mixture of grass, low scrubby vegetation, stands of pine and other trees, and the occasional olive or fig tree (Figure 5a). Surface inspection of their drystone features reveals considerable variation in size and morphology. Many are under 1m in height and upwards of 2–3m in width, but others can be quite imposing, measuring 1–2m in height and 6m or more in width. Their surfaces are characterised by thousands of small angular stones piled into long rectilinear or curvilinear features, or into isolated mounds (Figure 5b). Some exhibit formally stacked and faced drystone construction. In most cases, however, they remain either partially or wholly hidden from view by the continued accumulation of the small angular stones that dominate their surfaces, or by their collapse and deterioration. It is also possible that such formal construction was not employed in all cases but investigation beyond surface inspection would be required to test this.
Unkept urban green spaces and field architecture: a) relic field with drystone features; and b) detailed examples of drystone features among Zadar’s urban green spaces (figure by authors).
Unfortunately, these relic fields are often the first to be targeted for new urban constructions, driven in part by a robust tourism industry (Zaro et al. Reference Zaro2023). Several have been entirely transformed to urban landcover in the last several years alone, primarily with multi-unit residential structures, and others are currently under at least partial development. Still, some remain overgrown and unmanaged (for now), a small testament to the green heritage landscape that urban landcover is quickly replacing (Figure 6).
Current and former green spaces with drystone field architecture (Bing 2021 imagery via QGIS 3.24.2). The historic urban peninsula is partially visible in the lower centre. At the time of writing: a) approximately 75 per cent of area is now developed or under construction; b) entire space is developed; c) approximately one-third is now under construction; d) construction is underway in southern corner; e & f) still mostly green space (figure by authors).
Spatial organisation of urban streets and neighbourhoods
Numerous boundary lines from Roman centuriation are pronounced and easily traced features in the 1944 orthophoto. An overlay of city streets demonstrates a degree of coherence with the current spatial layout of Zadar, where contemporary streets mark portions of two or more boundaries for at least 18 centuriae (Figure 7).
Alignments of contemporary city streets and Roman centuriation in Zadar. Solid-blue lines indicate sharp alignment; dashed-blue lines indicate probable influence of centuriation on street placement. Street data from State Geodetic Administration (2016) (figure by authors).
Other elements of the historic agrarian landscape, like field boundaries, are more complicated to discern in the contemporary layout of streets given their irregular spatial patterning. To evaluate these relationships, we focused on two study areas within the city as a demonstration of concept: one near the sea between the peninsula and the modern port, and the other further inland near the margin of urban landcover (see Figure 1, label c). In the 1826 cadastre, both areas are characterised by an organic distribution of farm roads and field boundaries. Like the Roman centuriated landscape, an overlay of contemporary city streets with the 1826 cadastre reveals a degree of coherence, where the complicated network of modern streets and residential neighbourhoods partially reflects, or is shaped by, the agricultural organisation of space that preceded them. This is particularly evident among neighbourhoods dominated by single- or small multi-unit residential structures (Figure 8).
Overlay of contemporary city streets (grey) with the 1826 cadastre: a) centuria near the sea; and b) portions of centuriae near the interior margins of urban landcover (see Figure 1, label c, for general locations). Streets that align with historic field boundaries and farm roads are marked in white; those with centuriation are marked in blue. Street data from State Geodetic Administration (2016) (figure by authors).
Living fields and gardens
Living fields constitute a fourth legacy of green heritage around Zadar, particularly in the form of groves among peri-urban spaces around the city. The contemporary olive groves to Zadar’s immediate north, near the coast in Diklo, as well as those just beyond the interior limits of the city’s urban landcover, provide good examples (see Figure 1, label d). Both are characterised by rows of olive trees organised into long, narrow fields. Individual plots are occasionally marked by fences or characterised by differential management practices (e.g. grass maintenance between trees, pruning practices). An overlay of the 1826 cadastre with contemporary satellite imagery of the city confirms their continuity in location, types of land use and principles of spatial organisation, demonstrating living legacies from at least two centuries ago (Figure 9).
The continuity of living fields around Zadar is demonstrated by the alignment of the 1826 cadastre (top), contemporary satellite view (middle) and ground photo (bottom) for: a) fields north of Zadar near the coast; and b) fields just beyond the interior limits of urban landcover (see Figure 1, label d, for locations) (figure by authors).
A second form of living green heritage resides within the many house-lot gardens around Zadar today. These are mostly associated with single- or even small multi-unit residential complexes with ground-floor garden space. Given the high number of gardens across Zadar, we limited our observations to two small sample areas within the city (see Figure 1, label e) to document the kinds of fruits and vegetables regularly cultivated among them. The results point to a predominance of citrus, grapes, olives and figs—with the latter three regularly featuring in Zadar’s historic agrarian literature since at least the Middle Ages (Peričić Reference Peričič1999). These and other fruits are often accompanied by a diverse assortment of vegetables and herbs, with tomato, zucchini, peppers, beans, parsley and rosemary generally the most common (Figure 10). The prevalence of house-lot gardens contributes substantially to the locally distinctive character of the city, and their persistence hints at an important agrarian identity among many of its urban residents.
Common fruits and vegetables among house-lot gardens in two survey areas: a) centuria near the sea; and b) parts of two centuriae at the inland margin of urban landcover. Only those plants observed in two or more gardens are included (see Figure 1, label e, for general locations) (figure by authors).
Discussion
The rapid expansion of twentieth-century urban landcover atop historic or more ancient agrarian landscapes is a phenomenon shared by many Mediterranean cities. Consequently, legacies of green heritage are likely to be quite common among the contemporary urban built environments of very old cities. This creates meaningful opportunities for archaeological and historical fields of study to contribute to contemporary issues of urban growth and creative spatial planning while also preserving cultural heritage, promoting local distinctiveness and helping to protect a historic sense of place in the twenty-first century. In short, Zadar’s cityscape reveals how its historic agricultural landscape is central not only to the evolution of the city over millennia, but also to the urban morphology and locally distinctive character of the city today.
The recognition of green heritage and its legacies around a contemporary Mediterranean city like Zadar connects past land-use systems to present urban realities. In doing so, it offers several meaningful contributions to the broader field of heritage studies. First, it pushes studies of heritage and the built environment beyond architectural monuments or iconic sites to include legacies of historic and more ancient green spaces in the contemporary world. By centring our gaze upon the longevity of agricultural landscapes and their legacies within and around the twenty-first-century urban settlement, we further promote such landscapes as forms of green heritage, reinforcing ideas that align with UNESCO’s concept of the cultural landscape (https://whc.unesco.org/en/culturallandscape/). Recognising and protecting the impacts of green heritage on urban spatial organisation also align with UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network mission, which, among other values, champions the integration of culture in urban development plans (https://www.unesco.org/en/creative-cities).
Studies of green heritage and its legacies in contemporary urban settings also help to bridge the rural–urban divide. Historic Mediterranean cities often blur the boundaries between urban landcover and agricultural hinterlands, where historic agricultural zones are often embedded within, adjacent to or buried beneath urban landcover. This research identifies the ways in which urban expansion transforms, fragments or incorporates green heritage into the contemporary cityscape, while also supporting the notion that the city is not simply a built environment, but rather integrated with broader historical and socioecological systems.
Finally, our work around Zadar positions heritage, and particularly living green heritage, as a resource for contemporary and future resilience by supporting broader initiatives that promote urban greenery. For instance, the Green Cities Initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations urges sustainable urban development through integration of agriculture, forestry and bioeconomy (https://www.fao.org/green-cities-initiative/en). Likewise, the European Urban Initiative encourages the creation and maintenance of green infrastructure to reduce pollution and noise in and around urban areas (https://www.urban-initiative.eu/innovative-actions-greening-cities). Recognising and promoting the importance of an agricultural green heritage and its legacies can therefore add public value toward their protection in the context of these broader proposals.
Summary and conclusion
Since the middle of the twentieth century, urban landcover around Zadar has expanded over the top of its millennia-old agricultural landscape, threatening its local distinctiveness and the cultural identity and sense of place it embodied. Yet, as this study demonstrates, material legacies of green heritage are still detectable within and around the urban environment and may play a significant role in extending the locally distinctive character of the city beyond its historic urban core. In the case of Zadar, an agrarian past is expressed through millennia-old principles of Roman agrarian spatial planning, relic fields with dilapidated field architecture, urban spatial organisation and living groves and gardens. Recognising and promoting this distinctive landscape helps to protect a valuable archive of information about Zadar’s 3000-year history. In addition it creates opportunities for archaeology and other historical disciplines to promote the value of green heritage in maintaining a sense of place, while also contributing to conservation, sustainability and urban spatial-planning initiatives in the twenty-first century. This approach can be applied elsewhere in the Mediterranean, where the expansion of historic cities continues to encounter the ancient agricultural landscapes that were so vital to their historic success, resilience and urban identity for centuries.
Acknowledgements
We thank the residents of Zadar who generously shared information about their gardens.
Funding statement
This research was carried out as part of the ‘Sjeti Me Se’ (SMS) project (IP-UNIXD2025-27070), funded by the European Union–NextGenerationEU. The authors alone are responsible for views expressed here, which do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. This work was also supported, in part, by the University of Maine’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the McGillicuddy Humanities Center.
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