Since Croatia is a highly centralized country, the City of Zagreb is its largest economic centre which has spread territorially and administratively into its wider area the last two decades or so. This expansion, besides urbanization, also influenced economic transformation of the analysed area. The aim of this presentation is, on the basis of field and empirical research, to establish in what extent some economic activities, if any, are spreading into the wider area of the City of Zagreb as the result of metropolitan expansion, and if they are becoming more developed or underdeveloped. Development of local interconnected companies, households and institutions is creating special territorial network of local systems in which specific situation of development is recognized. However, we can not assume that development will certainly occure during this process since the proximity of a big city can also have a negative effect on the economy of the surrounding areas. The result can be the loss of economic function in certain extent. Analysed business activities in peri-urban area of Zagreb are not on the same level as in more developed parts of Croatia, which is obvious when comparing economic indiicators with Croatian average. Since the area of City of Zagreb is separated administratively from its metropolitan area, but interconnected with it functionally, it is interesting to explore both positive and negative influences in the researched area. The analysis was made on the basis of several economic activities which were mapped in the largest settlements of the County and which helped to establish their territorial patterns. Extremely low specialization in economy of this area is in finances (0,20), professional, scientific and technical activities i.e. those which are considered as basis for future economic development. It is an assumption that development of economy won't be possible without development of those activities. Economic structure influenced directly on social and functional transformation of the area. Emphasis was also on one of the most important type of economic activity, seen as economic driver in this area i.e. entrepreneurship, which is also a promotor of employment and productivity growth. While even in the middle of 20th ct. analysed area was mostly agricultural, nowadays this area is characterized by developed entrepreneurial infrastructure, and changes in economic structure influenced directly on social and functional transformation of the area. Most entrepreneurial businesses analysed here operate locally and therefore are subject to local or regional contextual influences. Patterns established were grouped into different categories that are interconnected with urban structure (towns are grouped according to their urban structure) of analysed settlements and also alow to get insight in business development in this areas. Since the small and middle sized towns are main economic centres in the analysed area, other mostly rural areas were not taken into consideration in this research. Those rural areas are functionaly dependant on these small urban and functional centres, so they were not significant for this analysis. Urban-rural dichotomy is extremely emphasised in Croatia.
Final results of the research showed that main development restraint in business activities and business function in Zagreb metropolitan area is unequal representation of certain business sectors and complete absence of certain business activities (culture and education for example). A questionnaire (occasional sample) was made in analysed settlements as well. Responses give us a better insight into how the local people experienced the transformation of their local economy.
