Attractions of the Big City

The article was primarily aimed at presenting some data concerning the connections of Zagreb, as the big city, with its surroundings in broader and narrower sense. Two aspects of the study were especially stressed here: a) the number and the nature of the contacts; and b) the desire to leave the present place of residence as expressed by the inhabitants of the areas in question. Both aspects were analysed in the light of the age of respondents. The results show that the contacts with Zagreb are rather rare, relatively short in duration (half a day to whole day) and motivated by various reasons. They also indicate that direct contacts of the inhabitants of Zagreb surroundings had no major influence on the attitudes towards the big city and life in it. The perceptions of life in the big city and especially the attitudes towards it are still being formed through other media or persist from earlier experience. But in spite of this, perceptions of the respondents show Zagreb as the center of cultural life and amusement, especially for younger individuals, in spite of the shortness of contacts. Some specific perceptions were pronounced too: perceptions of Zagreb as the means to social ends — professional and social promotion in younger individuals, or economic factors in older ones. The study also confirmed some hypotheses concerning the exodus of rural youth, and adults too, as influenced by positive stereotypes of the big city. Although the majority of the respondents reveals no actual intention to change the place of residence, it is clear that some 30% tend to do that, especially younger individuals. A substantial obstacle to the mobility was proved to be the land ownership. Individuals not possessing land express more readily desire to move than the individuals coming from agricultural or land-holding families. In this sense we can conclude that the optimal solution would be the introduction of the intentional and planned change of rural life styles, in favor of gradual penetration of urban patterns. In this way the basic conditions for changing attitudes toward the city life can be created. This could possibly lead to lowering the intensity of the migration to cities, stop the depopulation of rural agglomerations and raise the general level of satisfaction of rural population. Another significant outcome of the study is that 50% of potential migrants choose Zagreb as the new place of residence, especially the young. This reflects the importance of perceptions: in spite of urbanization and industrialization of rural areas in general, Zagreb retains the strongest appeal as the stereotype of the big city. Aspirations to change place of residence and move to Zagreb reflect merely a general tendency toward social and professional advancement. But, if this remains to be the main channel of social mobility which is in turn determined exclusively by disfavored status of the rural areas, it can become a major social concern in the nearest future