This volume (‘The role of part-time farms in the transformation of the urban fringe’) discusses the role of part-time farms in the economic, environmental and spatial transformation of the urban ...fringe. On the basis of the sample of Slovene suburban farms, the impact level of the proximity of workplaces on the mobility of the agricultural workforce was determined. It was also determined if socio-economic characteristics of suburban agricultural economies reflect in the characteristics of farm management and in the environment. This consequently stresses the role of part-time farms in the strengthening of multi-layered agriculture.
Studies on the knowledge society and regional innovation systems and their contribution to economic growth are already well established in research literature. This book ('Geographical Perspectives ...on the Knowledge Society in Slovenia') is based on a geographical analysis of connections between technological knowledge, competitiveness factors, and economic effects. It proceeds from the hypothesis that economic effectiveness in a region originates from the quality of human capital, in which innovations are the precondition for social progress, competitiveness, and developmental success. This article analyzes the spatial expansion of the knowledge society based on socioeconomic and development indicators in Slovenia. The key finding is that these areas are unevenly distributed. The high share of centers of national importance and neighboring suburban municipalities in emerging urban regions stands out in particular. Areas with a high percentage of creative professions are more innovative and their economic and social development is more successful.
Global scientific literature widely deals with analysis of regional innovative systems and their contribution to economic growth. Modern theories and empirical researches indicate strong correlation ...between the technical progress, creative human resources, toleration and capital investments. New investments are basic but not sufficient condition for balancing the developmental stimulation. Capital, linked with investment activities, natural (material) resources and human resources (work, knowledge, information) are main driving forces of the economic progress. New forms of investments today are strongly connected with population educational structure and knowledge, therefore investments do not occur everywhere, simultaneously and equally.
Slovenia is endangered by floods. Frequent intensive rainfall and heavy rains, a large proportion of mountainous and hilly regions, and numerous populated narrow valley bottoms are the primary ...reasons for this threat. Floods endanger about seventy thousand hectares of lowlands, and torrential flooding endangers a further three thousand hectares. Due to this enormous threat, Slovenia has more than one hundred years of experience in the field of flood prevention, while only more recently has the awareness developed in the European Union that flood prevention is cheaper in the long run than simply dealing with the consequences of floods. This fact is reflected in the increasing number of laws passed to deal with this danger, and for this purpose maps of flood hazard and flood risk are very important and are presented in the book.
Creativity is gaining in its importance within the knowledge society. Studying these complex dimensions and their long-term consequences for the economic and social progress was the object of ...abundant social studies n the past. But the transformation of the landscape due to creative influences, as one of the most important factors regarding structural changes in modern society, is not well represented in Slovenian geographical literature. The booklet at hand is the first attempt of establishing some geographical–developmental factors, which are encouraged by various forms of creative human activities. The geographical dispersion of human potentials is one of the key generators of creativity and social development. Some important socio–economic effects and regional disparities in the region are also in correlation with the aforementioned factors. We will try to explain some of them within a critical research view and within the form of the available space and on the other hand also show some new dimensions of social geography as a way of challenging future detailed discussions.
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