Urban Genesis of a Modern Port-Industrial Town on the Adriatic from 1945 to 1990 - Ploče, Croatia

Based on the urban planning historical and comparative method, the paper gives a concise overview of the urban genesis of Ploče, a new port-industrial town, built in the 1945–⁠1990 period. As the youngest town on the Croatian part of the Adriatic coast, it developed after the demanding and extensive works on the regulation of the Neretva River and the construction of the Sarajevo-Ploče railway line to meet the needs of the port. Within the framework of social planning and on the basis of urban development plans, which involved mostly Croatian urban planners, a new town was soon built on a previously undeveloped rocky and swampy area. 80 years after the idea of a new town, the urban planning of Ploče undoubtedly represents the urban heritage of Modernism. The specific spatial identity can be presented for the needs of tourism and used for sustainable development planning.