Peščenica – ŽitnjakFrom Zvonimirova to the Sava: city estates, villages, industry and lakes

Peščenica – Žitnjak at a glance

• Residents (2021 Census)³⁹53,023
• Households renting⁴⁰8.6%
• Area⁴³35.3 km²
• Neighbourhoods in our guide6
• Local committees⁴⁴16

Rents are asking prices from active listings on NajamStanova; residents and renting come from the 2021 Census. Households renting are those paying a market rent.

Where Peščenica – Žitnjak is

The district covers the south-east of Zagreb: part of the settlement of Zagreb and the separate settlement of Ivanja Reka.^1,3 Its northern border runs along the south side of Zvonimirova, Kennedyjev trg and Ulica Divka Budaka to Branimirova, then along the north side of the Zagreb – Dugo Selo railway to the Štefanovec stream. Maksimir and Donja Dubrava lie on the other side.^1,2 From Štefanovec the border drops to Slavonska avenija and follows its north side east to the city boundary, where the avenue meets the Zagreb – Lipovac motorway. North of that stretch of the avenue are Donja Dubrava and Sesvete.¹

In the west the border follows the west side of Heinzelova, the south side of Slavonska avenija and the east side of Avenija Marina Držića down to Most mladosti. The neighbour there is Trnje, and Donji grad touches the district at the corner of Zvonimirova and Heinzelova.^1,3 In the south the border runs along the south bank of the Sava; across the river are Novi Zagreb – istok and, further east, the Velika Gorica area.^1,32 To the east the district borders Zagreb County, and at Ivanja Reka the municipality of Rugvica.^3,33

Neighbourhoods in Peščenica – Žitnjak

• PeščenicaStara Peščenica, where a villa quarter was planned in 1913, and post-war Donje Svetice south of Branimirova, where new flats and offices are going up.Peščenica neighbourhood guide
• VolovčicaA planned 1932 estate around a round market, with 1930s terraced houses, 1950s workers' blocks and three 17-storey tower blocks.Volovčica neighbourhood guide
• FerenščicaFamily houses, 1960s five-storey blocks and 1980s eight-storey blocks by Vukovarska, eleven streets named after the area and new buildings around Lovinčićeva.Ferenščica neighbourhood guide
• Folnegovićevo naseljeFolka, an estate of Jugomont prefab blocks from the 1950s and 1960s, with playgrounds between the buildings and streets named after writers and stage artists.Folnegovićevo naselje neighbourhood guide
• BorongajA former airfield where the first domestic air route took off in 1928, with prefab "limenke" blocks and a university campus in old barracks.Borongaj neighbourhood guide
• ŽitnjakA village of family houses, vegetable plots and greenhouses beside Zagreb's largest industrial zone, the wastewater plant and the main drainage canal of 1892.Žitnjak neighbourhood guide

District council and local committees

Zagreb's 17 city districts were created by the City Statute of 14 December 1999.⁵ Their borders and seats are now set by the decision on district borders and seats, adopted by the City Assembly on 26 February 2009 and amended in 2017 and 2020; the consolidated text has applied since 12 November 2020.^1,2 The district's local committees (mjesni odbori) were set up in February 2009.⁸

Before that, the area was the Zagreb municipality of Peščenica. From 1974 it included Resnik, Ivanja Reka joined ten years later, and the municipality ceased to exist on 31 December 1990.⁸ The district council elected in 2025 has 19 members and first met on 26 June 2025.⁶ The district and its local office are based at Zapoljska ulica 1.^1,7

16 local committees (mjesni odbori) in Peščenica – Žitnjak: Borongaj - Lugovi, Bruno Bušić, Donje Svetice, Ferenščica, Folnegovićevo naselje, Ivanja Reka, Janko Matko, Kozari Bok, Kozari putevi, Peščenica, Petruševec, Resnik, Savica Šanci, Volovčica, Vukomerec, Žitnjak.⁴⁴

People in Peščenica – Žitnjak

At the 2021 Census, 53,023 people lived in Peščenica – Žitnjak in 21,031 households. 1,806 households, or 8.6%, paid a market rent (Zagreb: 7.7%). The average household had 2.5 members.^39,40

The district covers 35.3 km², about 1,501 people per square kilometre (Zagreb average: 1,196).⁴³

Its parts: what is where in Peščenica – Žitnjak

The district is entirely flat. According to the City's district profile, three quarters of its area lies between Slavonska avenija and the Sava. The City calls this part Žitnjak, "the belly of Zagreb", and describes it as traditional farmland where most long-time residents grow vegetables.^3,4 Most people, though, live in the north-west, in Peščenica, whose northernmost part belongs to the wider city centre. Business land and green space separate the residential zones from one another.³

The villages are the oldest layer. Resnik and Ivanja Reka are recorded from 1217, and Sabljar's 1866 gazetteer lists only Vukomerec among today's urban neighbourhoods.⁸ The town parts came in layers. A villa quarter in Peščenica was planned in 1913 and built after the First World War, and on 16 April 1932 the city government decided to sell building plots in Volovčica. After the Second World War came Donje Svetice, Ferenščica, northern Borongaj, Folnegovićevo naselje and Vukomerec, which had mostly taken their present shape by the late 1980s.⁸ The firm Jugomont put up many two-storey prefab blocks in Folnegovićevo naselje between 1955 and 1958, and built the first Ju-61 "limenke" in Borongaj.¹²

According to the district history the City publishes, Zagreb's largest industrial zone was placed on Žitnjak while new housing there was banned, so unpermitted, unplanned building spread through the old villages.⁸ The City's 2020 leaflet says this district has the largest share of land given to utilitiesUtilities (režije)Housing costs on top of rent: electricity, gas or heating, water, waste, the reserve fund, the HRT licence fee and internet. The lease decides which the tenant pays.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), Art. 5, checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary of any Zagreb district, with the combined heat and power plant, the central wastewater treatment plant and the Petruševec and Sašnjak waterworks. Its share of business land is second only to Stenjevec.^4,3 The City's 2024 civil protection plan notes that plants handling hazardous substances in Zagreb are, as a rule, located here. The settlements nearest to them are Borovje, Volovčica, Ferenščica and Folnegovićevo naselje, mostly blocks of flats, and the semi-urban, mostly house-built Kozari Bok, Kozari putevi, Petruševec, Savica – Šanci and Resnik.³⁸

By the Sava lie the Savica lakes, remains of old Sava backwaters and gravel pits in the Savica – Šanci area, protected since 1991.^14,3 On the district's northern edge, in the former Borongaj barracks, the University of Zagreb's Borongaj campus has operated since 2007.^27,4

Savica – Šanci

An area of small lakes left by Sava backwaters and gravel pits. More than 150 bird species have been recorded there, 53 of them wetland birds, and the body that manages the protected area also records otters.^3,4,14 The civil protection plan counts it among the semi-urban settlements where houses predominate.³⁸

Borovje

A neighbourhood on the north bank of the Sava, built where the approach from Držićeva to the old Jakuševec bridge used to be, according to the Bauštela portal.¹³ Blocks of flats predominate. A new branch of the Milana Sachsa nursery has been open there since 1 September 2026.^38,34,35

Kozari Bok and Kozari putevi

Semi-urban settlements where houses predominate.³⁸ Bus 225 runs from Sesvete via Resnik to Kozari Bok, and Dom zdravlja Zagreb – Istok has a surgery at Kozari Bok, IX. odvojak 11.^18,19,20

Petruševec

A riverside village next to which lay the field called Žitnjak.¹¹ Sabljar's 1866 gazetteer records three houses and 70 people there.⁸ According to the 2024 civil protection plan, the Petruševec waterworks supplies a quarter of Zagreb's water.³⁸

Resnik

The oldest village in the district, recorded from 1217. It was a parish centre for today's Donja Dubrava too, with a parish church from 1674 and a school from 1876.⁸ The Zagreb Resnik freight station is here, and on 15 September 2026 a location permit was issued for the Zagreb waste management centre.^16,31

Ivanja Reka

A separate settlement, recorded from 1217 like Resnik.^1,8 After a referendum in 1984 it left the municipality of Dugo Selo and joined Zagreb's Peščenica municipality.⁸ The Sava leaves Zagreb at Ivanja Reka, and according to the 2024 plan the settlement is not fully connected to the public water network.³⁸

Vukomerec

The only one of today's urban neighbourhoods listed in Sabljar's 1866 gazetteer, with six houses and 83 people; it grew into a town neighbourhood after the Second World War.⁸ The Dom zdravlja Zagreb – Istok surgery is at Porečka 7b.^19,20

Where the name Peščenica – Žitnjak comes from

The name joins the former municipality of Peščenica and Žitnjak.¹¹ Peščenica is named after sand (pijesak), and both spellings, Peščenica and Pešćenica, are correct.^9,10,8 According to ZGportal, Žitnjak was the name of a field near Petruševec; no documents explain the name, but people very probably sowed grain (žito) there.¹¹

Roads, rail and lines in Peščenica – Žitnjak

The main roads are Slavonska avenija, which leads to the Ivanja Reka junction on the Zagreb bypass, plus Ulica grada Vukovara, Heinzelova, Branimirova, Radnička cesta and Avenija Marina Držića.^38,1 Bridges over the Sava are Most mladosti (1974) on the western border, Domovinski most (2007) and the bridge at Ivanja Reka (1981); the railway crosses the river on the Mičevec bridge (1968).^38,1,4 The City's 2020 leaflet says the city plan (GUP) provides for a Petruševec road bridge next to that railway bridge and a rail link from the city centre to the airport along Radnička cesta.⁴

The Zagreb – Dugo Selo railway runs along the northern border; HŽPP's timetable to 12 December 2026 lists the Maksimir and Trnava stops on it.^1,15 According to HŽ Infrastruktura's development study, freight lines from Sesvete to the marshalling yard and Klara cut through much of the district, and the Zagreb Borongaj, Zagreb Resnik and Zagreb Žitnjak stations handle freight only.¹⁶

Bus 107 runs from Jankomir to Žitnjak, and bus 225 from Sesvete via Resnik to Kozari Bok.^17,18

Office, health, police and libraries in Peščenica – Žitnjak

Being built in Peščenica – Žitnjak

• Tram line along Heinzelova and Radnička to the Savišće loop: in May 2025 the City said procurement of works estimated at €48 million was under way.²⁹ According to Večernji list in July 2026, the 3.7 km line was originally due by autumn 2027, and procurement problems make it doubtful that works will even have started by then.³⁰
• Borovje: a new branch of the Milana Sachsa nursery opened on 1 September 2026, and the City held the official opening on 7 September.^34,35 The €5.4 million extension of OŠ Borovje, adding ten classrooms, was still under way according to Jutarnji list on 1 September 2026.^28,34
• The Zagreb waste management centre at Resnik received its location permit on 15 September 2026. According to the project company ZCGO, the permit opens the way to further preparation and construction.³¹
• A solar plant worth about €7 million at the Sašnjak waterworks: according to the Zagreb Energy Centre's January 2026 announcement, works would take about six months from the contractor's start.³⁷

Did you know?

• 1The body that manages Savica says it is the only surviving backwater along the Sava from the Slovenian border to just above Sisak, and the only wetland in Zagreb proper.¹⁴
• 2Žitnjak has been part of Zagreb since 1900. The City Assembly annexed it because of the main drainage canal, which it had decided on 28 December 1892 to build with its outlet into the Sava near the village of Žitnjak.^8,11

Renting in Peščenica – Žitnjak

Nearby districts

• Donja DubravaDistrict guide
• Lower TownDistrict guide
• MaksimirDistrict guide
• New Zagreb – EastDistrict guide
• SesveteDistrict guide
• TrnjeDistrict guide

• Compare districts: Peščenica – Žitnjak and Donja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Peščenica – Žitnjak and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Peščenica – Žitnjak and Maksimir
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

If you are still choosing a part of the city, read what living in Donja Dubrava is like or the Lower Town district guide; for the whole city, browse rental apartments in Zagreb.

Questions: living in Peščenica – Žitnjak