This photo is representative not only of the views available to those meandering the streets of Zagreb, but it gives a glimpse into the antiquity of the city and the beauty in the preservation and restoration of pre-modern architecture. A mix of Romanesque, Renaissance, and Baroque architectural styles are found all throughout the colorful, urbanized hub. Moreso, one of Zagreb’s best features can be seen in this photo: its ample green space. Zagreb’s urbanization and preservation in the past century is a work of art in and of itself–the commitment to maintaining the city’s charm as well as a healthy green-space to concrete ratio for ample group collection areas are wonders to behold. People can be seen lingering in the communal space walking their dog, relaxing on benches, walking about, and more. Furthermore, this photo is impactful for our group because it gave us a new sense of ‘what could be.’ Many people I spoke with on the trip said that cities in the United States often felt flat, despite the towering skyscrapers often located within them. The flatness, I found, came from the one-note concrete consistently used in nearly every project: the sidewalk, the buildings, the roads, and so on. Green-space is often only found in park areas, not throughout the city for one to stumble upon when walking about. Zagreb’s urban setting gave us an in-person look at how cities can be colorful and vibrant in both architecture and greenery without taking away from the functionality of the workings of a metropolitan area.
