The Anatomy of Islands Initiative has been carried out for 10 years on the Croatian islands with the aim of forming international platform for island research and development as an active participant in the affirmation of life on the islands. Our main activities include the organization of symposiums and workshops, in close cooperation with island communities, focusing on themes involving island futures and development of island communities, and implementing the ideas through local projects.
Regional
Croatia
Splitsko-Dalmatinska county, Vis Municipality, Komiža Municipality, Lastovo Municipality
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
ESF : European Social Fund
The Anatomy of the islands was a partner with Dobre Dobričević Association of Lastovo on a project called 'Lastovo Social Center' for which the ESF funds were used.
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Anatomy of Islands - Centre for Research and Development Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Josipa Last name of representative: Slaviček Gender: Female Nationality: Croatia Function: Program Coordinator Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Jelsa 831 Town: Jelsa Postal code: 21465 Country: Croatia Direct Tel:+385 91 722 9041 E-mail:josipa.slavicek@gmail.com Website:http://www.anatomija-otoka.com/
The project of the initiative has been carried out for 10 years on the Croatian islands with the aim of forming an international platform for island research and development as an active participant in the affirmation of life on the islands. The innovativeness of the project is reflected in the building of an international community of experts and islanders (multidisciplinary scientists, civil, political, administrative and cultural sectors) who deal with the challenges of the Croatian islands and jointly develop solutions for locally recognized goals at symposiums and workshops. The project has been implemented on two Croatian islands so far, Vis and Lastovo, each with a five-year plans and programs that have a common aim to: build an international network of island scholars engaged with island related topics; create interdisciplinary knowledge about islands, island communities, and models of island development; transmit that knowledge through various forms of education and networking activities; apply the knowledge through the creation of developmental project proposals based on a bottom-up methodology approach through the participatory work with the locals. The results of the work are various implementations of projects on a professional and practical level such as: the base of information concerning local historical heritage and traditions; assembly of a public building Japanese Tea Pavilion on Vis; cooperation with islanders in creation of the successful project Geopark Vis Archipelago - Visitor center; more than 40 conceptual project ideas created by students that are given to municipalities for future purpose, and many more. The initiative is persistently restoring relations with international collaborators with every symposium and workshop, inviting the interested individuals and institutions to join our initiative and share the knowledge, which is leading us to more fortunate opportunities for our following plan on the island of Hvar from 2023.-2027.
Awareness growth
Community development
Environmental protection
Interdisciplinary research
Science and Culture
One of the key objectives of our association is to create interdisciplinary knowledge about islands, island communities, and models of island development with the societal goal to provide the possibility to the islanders to safely co-exist in a community that has been marginalized for a long time in Croatia.Therefore, the association’s main activities include the organization of symposiums and workshops, taking place on Croatian islands in close cooperation with island communities, focusing on themes involving island development. Experts across various disciplines are invited to participate (architecture, urban planning, geography, economy, archeology, ethnology, cultural anthropology, sociology, agriculture), local government officials, NGOs, and individuals involved in community projects on islands. The symposiums are usually followed by a student workshop, which aims to put ideas within the given theme into practice. Over the last ten years Anatomy of islands association has organized symposiums and much of the topics were related to the concept of sustainability and resilience. In 2019 on the island of Lastovo Anatomy organized symposium entitled ‘Islands in Focus: From Narrations of Vulnerability to Empowerment’, while in 2021 symposium entitled ‘Islands and Crises: Resilience and Sustainability of Island Communities’ focused on the problematization of resilience and sustainability in local communities. In 2022 symposium ‘Climate change and environmental futures of the islands’’ gathered the scientific and organizing committee consisting of renowned international climate research experts and international law experts (dr. sc. Illan Kelman, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, Institute for Global Health, University College London and University of Agder Norway; dr. sc. Marie-Ange Schellekens-Gaiffe, Centre for Political and Legal Studies, dr. sc. Agnès Michelot, Faculty of Law, Political Sciences and Management, La Rochelle University, France, etc.).
Islands are full of buildings, landscapes, paths, beaches, forests, plants, trees, animals, military facilities, and production plants that are often left to decay, or have been destroyed due to insufficient knowledge on how to value space and nature for the benefit of all islanders in the long term. Massive tourism led to the rapid growth in building private villas, hotels and resorts that serve only tourists during 4 months of the season, but not the islanders through the year, with mostly careless impact to the environment without general vision. Through symposiums and student workshops, we tried to present to the public the potential for rehabilitation and restoration of beautiful but unused buildings and agricultural areas, and make aware of the need for a more sustainable and locally designed approach. This effort has been recognized by the professional community and the association won the most prestigious professional recognition awarded by the Zagreb Society of Architects – 2016 ARTUR (Architecture-Tourism) award. During our symposiums that are held every September on an island, the round tables were regularly organized, inviting and welcoming the local people to share their knowledge about their needs, to contribute to the discussion with local government and experts that came to participate. The results were an extraordinary example of how our initiative is making a real-time impact on local people, feeling included, accepted and free to share their opinion, that usually don’t have the opportunity to do so, as nobody asks them. But also how important it is to provide the knowledge and inputs from the scientists, experts and decision-making people on the processes in the long term. The most profound results of the initiatives are new friendships and collaborations that are willing to make a further impact on island life for future generations, when the Anatomy complete the mission on the island.
Regardless of expertise and knowledge, an individual can contribute to the project with his own experience of life on the island, and thus feel accepted and listened to. Through the individual communication with symposium and workshop participants and collaborators, our aim is to create a friendly surrounding with mutual interest. Seen from a scientific and professional perspective, the methodology and approach of working with smaller communities can be applied to other areas, groups of people or contexts, and most of all it can be replicated in all island areas in the world. The organization of work on the project, by combining the analytical, educational and presentation segments, creates an innovative model of access to society and influences the individual's way of thinking about the space around them, which makes the platform an example for other initiatives around the world. Furthermore, the NGO is part of the Island Innovation group and our ambassador person is working together with other NGOs around the world, sharing the knowledge of our approach and methodology that turns out to be a great contribution to practical knowledge to others. In terms of accessibility and affordability, the symposiums and workshops are free for all visitors to listen and participate, as the project is funded through various sources willing to participate. Symposium is simultaneously translated by two Croatian-English translators, enabling anyone to actively listen and participate, which is of great importance for the local people since the international presenters participate every year. The project is financed by tender funds from the competent Croatian ministries (culture, science, regional development and EU funds), funds from the European Social Fund (through the partner association Dobra Dobričević), donations from local companies, funds from the island's city and municipal budgets, and own funds from membership fees and registration fees.
The social innovation of the project is reflected in the methodology of mutual cooperation, where the project itself has the role of a multi-sector mediator, realizing the need to connect different disciplines, professions and sectors with the local population in order to create a long-term impression on space and people. At a time when results are wanted as soon as possible, the project includes a multidimensional understanding of human action on space, and reflects on the world for future generations. Cooperation with the islanders as the target group of the Anatomy of the Island project represents an innovative social engagement due to the previous marginalization of the island's inhabitants, and insufficient valorization of their needs in the way of life, infrastructurally, functionally and socially separated from the rest of the mainland of the Republic of Croatia. Separated from the mainland, island communities have learned to live alone, and risks and crises have always been a component of island existence. Collecting and developing island knowledge is important for the future of society, and how to act as a community in crisis situations. The project is implemented on the Croatian islands: 2012 - 2016 on Vis, 2018 - 2023 on Lastovo, and from 2023 to 2027 it will be implemented on the island of Hvar. The new cycle on the third island is currently in the phase of organizing workshops on the island area with the islanders, emphasizing the participation of the population and the bottom-up approach in the decision-making process on the topics of the symposium and student workshops. The five-year plan is defined by the expressed interest of the islanders, gathering members from all over the world who deal with the islands through research, art, activism, political participation or through their personal passion for applying knowledge about life on the island in development projects.
The project is implemented through the association's administrative scientific and organizational committee, and members of the expert council that communicate with local municipalities, associations and stakeholders, domestic and international institutions such as research institutes (ethnology, anthropology, architecture and geography) and faculties (humanities and social sciences, architecture, geography, archeology). In the decision-making process, interested institutions and professional collaborators are involved, through meetings, discussions and workshops with the local stakeholders of the island, the guidelines and goals of the work on a certain island are defined. Until now, international faculties have collaborated on the project, and through workshops with students, led by expert mentors, proposals were made to improve the existing situation and incorporate new, original content. The project started as an initiative of a local group of islanders that organized a round-table and workshop together with a local architect, inviting international faculties (from Japan, Italy, France, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) to join them on the island of Vis. Both faculties and the municipality participated in funding the initiative, which led to organization of the symposiums in the next years. Anatomy of the island became a mediator between locals (projects) and stakeholders who would help in the implementation of projects on a professional and practical level. The work methodology is a participatory model of developing solutions for a selected challenge of the island community, such as designing new functions for individual public spaces, but also professional support for interested private stakeholders who need help, for example, in the restoration of traditional architectural buildings or the development of innovative agricultural products. The international group of students and workshop mentors ensure innovative solutions and their adaptability to global challenges.
The innovativeness of the project is primarily reflected in the building of a community of experts (multidisciplinary, multilevel - civil, political, administrative and cultural sector) who deal with islands in Croatia (with continuous international advice). Disciplines that have been engaged through the work of the initiative, whether as researchers participating on the annual symposium or as mentors, supervisors, students and collaborators are: ethnology, anthropology, sociology, geography, biology, architecture and urban planning, humanistic sciences, art history, art and culture, etc. The disciplines are intertwined with various phD university professors and candidates, Institute researchers, Faculty assistants and students, and people working in their disciplines through various sectors. The knowledge on the topic of islands from various disciplines complement each other during symposiums, creating new collaborations on future projects on Institutions. The workshops are organized in groups of 5 students, from various faculties, mixed in disciplines and providing each other with their way of view on how to approach and solve the concrete task. The results are interdisciplinary design or research projects that include terrain overview, interdisciplinary research, concept proposal and the methodology for the implementation of the project. The most usual mix for disciplines that showed good results are architecture and urban planning with geography and ethnology, covering the knowledge about space, people and design.
The Eastern Adriatic islands, although geographically and culturally a strategically important national and European area, in Croatia do not have an umbrella platform for systematic reflection on them, and are under great environmental and spatial pressures due to tourism and climate change. The need to start the project arose from the initiative of the islanders themselves and the observed insufficient commitment to the development of the Croatian islands at the local and state level, the lack of the creation of knowledge about the islands in the scientific system, the lack of international exchange and application of experiences and knowledge, and of awareness about the necessity of implementing new development models/forms that contribute to keeping the population on the islands. The innovativeness of the project is primarily reflected in the methodology of work with islanders through educational and practical segments in comparison other few initiatives in Croatia such as ‘Island movement’ that focuses more on the promotional image of the Croatian islands through the media in collaboration with Local Island Agencies (LAG Škoji), or smaller actions that raise awareness and indicate problem of local illegal projects through activism or petitions. In the terms of mainstream actions, the initiative is leading to a more thorough educational process that takes longer time, but definitely with long term effect. If we compare our initiative in a global context, there are many Island Associations, NGOs and initiatives that do a great job, but none of them is focused on an eastern Adriatic archipelago, or deals with the Mediterranean culture on islands through long-term educational and practical work, or with the similar working methodology and number of collaborators.
We have designed a platform that deals with islands and island communities intersectoral and interdisciplinary and on the islands itself, which is the main goal of this project. We believe our working methodology is the essence of our initiative that can serve as an example to others with the similar interest in contributing to the education of small local communities in the long-term. It consists of three segments that intertwine annually: analytical, educational and presentational. The methodology can be replicated to any other island, but also mainland contexts, on how to approach the local people, create a database of information, connect with institutions and people that could contribute to the project, understand the problematic of the context and empower the community with new knowledge and enthusiasm towards brighter future for all included.
The project Anatomy of an island - a space at the service of the community consists of three segments: analytical (interdisciplinary gatherings of Croatian and international nisologists, activists and managers of island development at a scientific-popular international symposium), educational (interdisciplinary student workshops on a specific problem of the interested island community) and presentational (exhibitions of conceptual solutions of island development challenges) segment. Symposium topics are developed at the workshop into concrete project proposals for architectural, urban planning and accompanying solutions useful for the local community of the Croatian islands. Although a naturally and culturally extremely important area of Croatia and Europe, the Eastern Adriatic archipelago does not have a platform that deals with islands and island communities in an intersectoral and interdisciplinary manner and on the island itself. This project gathers and builds such a community that is further available to local development agents. Each year we provide the participants of the symposiums with the book of abstracts, both on croatian and english, that contains the material that was presented during the symposium, together with the biography and contact information of the presenter, which serves the participants and local people to further connect with researcher they are willing to collaborate with, share the knowledge or just talk about common topic. We believe the long-term progress is based on a creation of new friendships and future collaborations that have an opportunity to happen during the stay of the Anatomy on the island.
The impact of climate change on small islands is discussed as being even more intense than on the mainland due to island specifics such as small geographical areas, vulnerable communities, remoteness, isolation, limited natural resources, and vulnerable ecosystems. Some researchers recognise these specificities as potential for environmental sustainability. Extensive scholarly debate has been ongoing on possible futures, and, in one of the scenarios, it is predicted that by the end of this century, the sea will flood tens of thousands of islands that are less than one meter above sea level and consequently reduce the territory of island states in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is also speculated that this could lead to environmental migration and hence lead “flooded islanders” to the position of environmental migrants and displaced persons, not to mention the destruction of many plant and animal species. All of these issues are in the focus of numerous academic disciplines that negotiate various visions of environmental futures. Islands are at the forefront of facing the challenges of adapting to climate change and island communities are pioneers in finding and implementing sustainable climate solutions and in developing their own climate resilience strategies. The topic of our 2022 symposium was ‘Climate change and environmental futures of islands’ which gathered more than 50 participants during the 3 day symposium, addressing various problem-solving solutions directed towards local projects on Lastovo. During the symposium, the round-table is used as an island meeting of locals and participants that together define, discuss and decide on the possibilities and actions providing information for local solutions in dealing with environmental challenges.
The project "Anatomy of the island - community service space" has so far been implemented in two five-year cycles under the name "Anatomy of the island - Vis 2012 - 2016." and ''Anatomy of the island - Lastovo 2018-2022'' Through symposia and student workshops, the association brought before the public the possibilities of rehabilitation and renovation of beautiful, but unused buildings and agricultural land in public ownership, and the association received the most prestigious professional award awarded by the Society of the architects of the city of Zagreb - ARTUR award 2016. The difficulties we encounter are the weak connection between island communities and stakeholders and their mutual competition, and we overcome them with a participatory work methodology. The scope of progress changes with each five-year plan, depending on the island where the association is situated and what are the necessities of the local people and space that the Anatomy of Islands can provide its services. On the island of Vis we organized 5 symposiums and 4 student workshops that resulted in creating 24 conceptual projects that are given to the local municipality for the future purpose of space development. During our stay on Lastovo we organized 5 symposiums that were directed to more serious questions and topics about the islands, since Lastovo is the most distant island in Croatia and its population is rapidly decreasing. During the 5 years we connected with some of the prestigious Croatian researchers that decided to contribute with their knowledge, but also we created a new professional collaboration with the local association ‘Dobre Dobričević’ for future island projects. One of the results was the decision of one of our colleagues to move with her family to Lastovo, and start working in the kindergarten that urgently needed the teacher. The scope of progress differs from island to island, and encourages us to continue with our work of the initiative every year.
The Anatomy of Islands initiative is leading the Croatian islands towards a more sustainable future that has a benefit for the whole nation, but also Europe, since the Croatian islands became one of the highly visited summer destinations for EU citizens. The visitors that come to the islands enjoy the clear water and air, local culture and cuisine, spending their holidays under sun which provides them with Vitamin D and improves their health and mood. We believe it is in a great interest for all to provide the best possible quality of life for local people and short-time experience for tourists, with taking in mind how the rising number of visitors affect the environment, and what are the consequences for the local culture in the long-term. In the opinion of many scholars, the islands are great laboratories, testing grounds for experimenting with local projects that affect island life, and the effects can be seen faster than in, for example, cities or mainland locations. Our initiative is providing a spectrum of helpful insights on how to collaborate with the small communities, especially on islands. Moreover, islands are at the forefront of facing the challenges of adapting to climate change and island communities are pioneers in finding and implementing sustainable climate solutions and in developing their own climate resilience strategies. Knowledge on how to adapt to changes that the future is bringing us is already in the global base of island knowledge, and Croatian islands hold thousands of years of Mediterranean cultural heritage and history that serves the European sustainability strategy for the benefit of us all. Croatian islands are part of the ‘Smart Islands Movement’ and their ideas and projects are on the way to high competency with the rest of the EU countries.
