Kako čitati grad : Rijeka jučer, danas

The book, a kind of urban textbook, combines historical, sociological, urban and cultural approaches in order to "read" the city as a text full of hidden signs - from ancient Tarsatica to the modern cosmopolitan center of Kvarner.

Matejčić chronicles the growth of Rijeka from a Roman settlement to a medieval trading center under the Habsburgs, Hungarian and Italian rule, to a 19th-century industrial metropolis with a port, factories and working-class districts. She covers key sites in detail - the Korzo with its palaces, Trsat with its fortress, dry docks and villas on the Boulevard - revealing missing layers: destroyed buildings, forgotten streets, urban mythology. Through rich illustrations, archives and field research, the author revives memories of events such as great fires, epidemics and wartime devastation, emphasizing that Rijeka has always been a city of transition - ethnic, cultural and architectural.

The book covers topics such as - the human scale in the urban fabric (a city for people, not just for power), the continuity of heritage versus modernization, the hidden urban identity (from basement temples to facades with secrets). Matejčić warns of the loss of memory in rapid development, but celebrates Rijeka as a "surprising city" - full of challenges, but also beauty. The book is invaluable for researchers, urban planners and city lovers, becoming the basis for the street that bears her name in the Rijeka Campus. As a bridge between yesterday and today, it reminds: the city is read with the heart and the eyes.