Sustainable Integrated Development of Dubrovnik
Initiatives such as “Respect the City! Project”, the strategic program Gruž – City and the restoration of cultural heritage are aimed at reducing tourist burdens, promoting sustainable tourism, withdrawing more than EUR 160 million from EU funds, and positioning Dubrovnik as a global example of good practice in sustainable development.

Cooperation for sustainable development and reduction of tourist burdens
Based on our efforts and projects of integrated sustainable development, and in particular sustainable tourism in cities with cultural heritage and protected areas of nature, we are invited to help the sustainable development, and particularly the sustainability of tourism, of one of the most important Croatian, but global tourist destinations – the city of Dubrovnik.
Within the framework of this engagement, cooperation was agreed on co-designing and supporting the implementation of the “Respect the City! Project,” building the City of Dubrovnik’s capacity to prepare, apply for, and finance development projects through EU funds and other external sources of financing, and creating analytical development bases for the long-term development of the City of Dubrovnik.
With the involvement of many stakeholders, an agile mapping of problems, needs, possibilities, and opportunities, as well as possible solutions to key problems, was initiated.
Cooperation was established with all key local, regional, national, and international stakeholders, including cruise industry representatives. This was a key perceived problem of excessive tourism during peak periods concerning the destination’s carrying capacity.
The meetings between the City of Dubrovnik and CLIA, with the expert support of the Eupolis Group, led to a significant reduction in the city's peak load for cruise ship guests, and the City of Dubrovnik was the first city in the world to establish cooperation with the cruise industry
Respect the City: An Example of Sustainable Tourism and Revitalization of Dubrovnik
According to the leaders of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), Dubrovnik thus became the first city in the world to establish cooperation with the industry. Thanks to this, significant congestion reductions were achieved in the following year through a simple measure of better coordination of call times, i.e. limiting the number of large ships at the Port of Dubrovnik at the same time.
In addition, CLIA financially supported the GSTC—Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s involvement, which mapped the key elements of destination sustainability and proposed measures.
As part of this cooperation, the Eupolis Group developed a proposal for the “Respect the City Program Action Plan until 2025”, which was adopted by a majority vote of the Dubrovnik City Council in 2021. The link to this Action Plan is available here .
The “Respect the City! Project” has thus turned into a long-term development program recognised by international experts as an example of good practice in sustainable tourism and has been presented at many international conferences and fairs. The initiative has also attracted significant attention from the world’s media, and the city was soon recognised as an example of good practice in systemic work on solving problems, even though the program was only in its infancy and was stopped by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can read more about this program at the link .
In parallel with the development of the Action Plan, the development of project and technical documentation for projects to improve traffic and overall urban, social, cultural and tourist infrastructure was launched.
This included numerous projects such as the project to restore the dilapidated but protected cultural property of the Gučetić – Lazarević summer house in Rijeka Dubrovačka, which should contribute to the dispersion of visits to less touristically developed parts of the city.
As part of the collaboration, Eupolis Group has developed, based on available analytical materials, a project brief for the program of conversion into a socio-cultural centre of Rijeka dubrovačka and the Ruđer Bošković Memorial Center. The project is now being implemented after, based on the architectural designs and other materials, a building permit was obtained in July 2023.
Eupolis Group has prepared a project brief for the renovation of the Gučetić summer house in Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik 2030: Integrated development and vision for the future
The capacity-building program of the Administrative Department for European Funds and the Economy began in 2018 under the leadership of Eupolis Group. Thanks to this effort, the City of Dubrovnik, led by Mayor Mate Franković and Head Zrinka Raguž, soon went from no projects to more than EUR 160 million in approved projects, becoming one of the most successful cities in Croatia and beyond.
Thanks to this success, Head of the Administrative Department Zrinka Raguž was soon appointed State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds, and the City of Dubrovnik continues to successfully develop the city on the principles of integrated development supported by European Union funds and other external sources of financing.
As part of the cooperation with the City of Dubrovnik, a proposal for the strategic project Gruž – City and the concept of the Dubrovnik 2030 program was also developed, which, based on the architectural and urban proposals of internationally recognised architects Dinko Peračić from ARP d.o.o. and Hrvoje Bote from Održivo d.o.o. proposed an attractive program for the redevelopment of the entire Gruž aquarium into a new attractive city centre with a coastal promenade. In addition, the city’s integrated development is proposed based on the principles of polycentric development in five key zones and within each zone. The Gruž – City Integrated Program is profiled as a key development centre in the Dubrovnik Center zone. This program was presented to the Government of the Republic of Croatia and JASPERS, the Technical Assistance of the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank in 2021 and 2022. JASPERS experts highlighted this initiative as an example of good practice in integrated development planning that can be a model for the Republic of Croatia and the entire European Union.
The lead author of the Integrated Development Program was the Eupolis Group, and you can find more about this program at this link, where the basic concept of this Program is presented.













Part of the solution proposal of the Integrated Program Gruž—City was subsequently realized (Tržnica and Lapadska obala). The Lapad coast was financed with EU funds at the initiative of the Eupolis Group with the support of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, thus saving the City of Dubrovnik more than EUR 9.3 million.
See our other projects too:
After its renovation and opening in 2014, the fortress became a prestigious stage for cultural events and an example of successful regeneration of cultural heritage with the use of EU funds.
The underground city in the heart of Velebit has been transformed from military infrastructure into an educational and interpretation center of the Paklenica National Park, promoting sustainable tourism and the protection of natural and cultural heritage.
The integrated development of the City of Biograd included numerous projects worth a total of around 10 million euros, including the construction of the Business Incubator, the BioSfera Center for Sustainable Active Tourism, the Tourist Information Center, and the Recycling Yard.