Move with Me Around Križevci
By: Sandra Vlasic
Tags: Cycling, Croatia, Sustainable Mobility, Community, Nature Based Solutions

It’s 2030 and there is no longer any noise coming from traffic in the city of Križevci, no fumes either, because there is no longer any motorised traffic in the city center.

No fear for kids playing outside, toddlers running after a dog or playing with a ball. All I can hear is birds and some voices when people get into loud discussions, when boys whistle or bike bells ring.

Križevci — Croatia

The city center is now a space for pedestrians, with a lot of green areas and with separated tracks for e-scooters and cyclists. Finally, my dream became true - I am no longer stressed about a sudden clash like when e-scooters started back in 2020. Since then, the city started to implement its green urban infrastructure plan - just as they committed to the citizens during a public consultation held in 2020 and continued each year after, through the ‘Participate Križevci’ online platform.

The city gradually introduced more tree-lanes and parks, car-free zones, and built a network of bicycle paths not only in the urban heart of the city but also towards settlements outside the city center. Not all investment came from the public budget - over five years the city gradually introduced incentives such as communal tax discounts for the private sector if they invest in green and nature-based public infrastructure. The main square in Križevci has gradually become the main green oasis of citizens and a gathering place, with a green roof on the city pavilion, new trees and lush green spaces, with solar benches and a solar tree next to the fountain and real trees providing shade and fresh air in times of the summer heat.

Since 2020, the e-transport network gradually replaced outdated fossil-fuel buses and cars and now connects the 59 peri-urban settlements belonging to the city. The network has well-located charging stations for electric bicycles, scooters and small e-cars - I have never remained uncharged in my e-mobility history!

Each year the city built 10 kilometers of new cycling routes and now the network totals more than 100 kilometers. The communal tax discounts for private entities applied to enhancing cycling infrastructure too, which helped to build the cycling network at twice the speed and extent than would have happened with only public funding. The local winemakers and apple cider-makers even got together and built a vine & bike route between their cellars with their own money in just two years - a tourist drawcard now.

It has become normal to see families with children coming to the city by bicycles or cargo-bikes from nearby settlements, employees cycling to work and changing sneakers into shoes while entering the offices. The visual line between urban and rural became thin when services and infrastructure became more accessible and reliable for the whole population.

Cycle paths between the vineyards

On weekends the city is full of visitors cycling, walking and exploring the city and its surroundings. Along the bike paths there are many rest areas with charging stations and educational panels with stories about the location, historic curiosities and its natural and cultural values.

Everybody was thrilled when in 2023 the city introduced interactive smart info-panels along the routes where visitors could share their messages, impressions and ideas. The city even challenged visitors for the best idea and invited visitors to come back and check whether it has been implemented. How happy would you be to come back to Križevci in a years time and find, say, a freshwater well on your way to Kalnik exactly where you got thirsty as a dog last time? Or a self-service local craft-beer or apple-juice station, because “YOU asked for it”? By listening hard to visitors and residents, and acting on their advice, already in 2025 Križevci became one of the top five cycling destinations in Croatia.

Citizens no longer rely on cars powered by diesel and gas. The local public transport is owned by the city company and uses only electric powered vehicles. The routes are optimized, similarly as it used to be with Uber back in the 2020-ies. So it’s economically efficient and powered by locally produced electricity from the sun or hydrogen fuel. This mix helped the viability of the public transport system. It is used by school children from surrounding remote settlements and municipalities, it is used by citizens who no longer use their own cars to get to the city.

After more than 15 years of being a “work in progress” with dynamics linked to political election cycles, there is finally a fast, viable train to neighboring cities and the capital Zagreb. The train connection made the population grow in the last 7 years due to the immigration of new families from the surrounding larger cities. Križevci has been recognised as one of the best places to live in Croatia, close to the big administration center Zagreb.

Clean transport means clean air and the beautiful sound of silence from the beginning of this story. More walking and cycling in clean air mean less respiratory problems and allergies among the local population and an overall better health of the city’s residents. I no longer need my antihistamine each spring.

It has taken ten years for the city to develop this clean and equitable local mobility system, but it was worth it. Now in 2030 the change for the better is obvious!