Post Crises Croatia - Curbing Touristification and Investor Domination

A year later than originally planned, Fredrik is finally in Zagreb to screen Push the film across the country! The Filmmaker and the Advocate seize the opportunity to take the podcast on the road. In conversation with architect and activist Iva Marčetić, Fredrik and Leilani discuss the unique situation in Croatia, where the government is the biggest landlord in the country but owns just 2% of the housing stock. Even without large corporations buying up properties, the use of property as financial capital is impacting housing value and resulting in displacement. Like so many other  cities around the world, in the pre-pandemic period Zagreb was subject to a whopping 30% annual growth of Airbnb properties, causing rents to jump by 11% per year or more and forcing people out of city centres, in to the suburbs.And what of the pandemic? Housing prices continue to soar. The selling off of public lands to private actors who use it to leverage more capital rather than provide for local economies has become common. And in a place where the poor have historically had high homeownership, there is a strong need for regulatory legislation and protections for tenants to stem the rising tide of financialization. Croatians ARE pushing back. The question is, will their resistance influence the Mayoral election in Zagreb and politics beyond? Iva Marčetić is a member of Pravona Grad, Right to the city. Produced by WG Film Recorded & Edited by Mikey JonesMusic by Florencia Di ConcilioSocial Media & Support Team - Maja Moberg, Valerie Estrina, Hanna LeanderSupport the show

Om Podcasten

Cities are becoming increasingly unliveable for most people. Costs are rising but incomes are not. Sky-high rents, evictions, homelessness, and substandard housing are common realities for urban dwellers across the planet. There is a global housing crisis. How did this basic human right get so lost? Who is pushing people out of their homes and cities, and what’s being done to pushback? 

On the heels of the release of the award-winning documentary, PUSH, filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, have reconvened. Join the filmmaker and the advocate as they reflect on their experiences making PUSH and exchange ideas and stories about the film's central issue: the financialization of housing and its fall-out. 

For more about PUSH and to view it:  www.pushthefilm.com 

For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com

For more about Leilani Farha in her new role, Global Director of The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org