The area of Lika and North Dalmatia in the context of the modern regionalisation of Croatia

The modern county system in the Republic of Croatia, and the strategic motorway network linking the Croatian regions, particularly the central and southern parts of the Adriatic coast via the Lika area, have defined new functional links in the central part of Adriatic Croatia. In contrast to reversions to previous divisions and demarcations in the Croatian area made by the Ottoman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy and Venetian Republic, the late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen renewed processes in the transport, economic and functional connectivity of modern Lika and North Dalmatia, which are similar to those in Antiquity and periods when the original nucleus of the Croatian state was affirmed. The construction of the motorway within the Adriatic-Ionian corridor, the focus on the nearest coastal frontage with an airport and sea ports, linking tourist complexes in the chain Novalja / Karlobag – Nin – Zadar – Biograd – Vodice – Šibenik – Primošten – Rogoznica with the Plitvice Lakes tourist complex, and a greater number of national and nature parks, have encouraged new, improved connectivity through direct, easily perceptible sociogeographic processes. This has been helped by relatively simple, spontaneous permeation in trade, transport, banking, administration, education, the judiciary, security, etc., which in spite of individual, political or inherited solutions and local issues prompted by groups with different or overlapping interests, has facilitated appropriate, effective, modern-day and essential integration towards a gravitationally unique, functional regional complex. The significance of existing, established centres of gravity, among which Zadar is prominent as an old developmental hub and node on the Croatian Adriatic coastal front, is of prime importance, particularly in a period of demographic recession, not only for small, rural centres, but also larger urban ones, this regional complex, and Croatia as a whole. Scientific, multidisciplinary recognition of modern processes in development, and spatial determinants in selecting a modern regional system in the Republic of Croatia, are also linked to the modern administrative-territorial, i.e. inherited, traditional county system. It is equally desirable to align these with EU NUTS regionalisation (particularly the NUTS-3 level), which is a challenging, but undeferrable task, for the purpose of the equitable distribution of basic goods, and balanced, decentralised, high quality development in Lika and North Dalmatia and Croatia as a whole in the future