The Franciscean Cadaster from the first half of the nineteenth century is an excellent source for studying land use and its changes. However, to date it has only rarely been used in geographical and ...historical research at the regional or national level. Setting up a digital database of land use recorded in the Franciscean Cadaster at the level of cadastral municipalities covering all of Slovenia and incorporating it into a geographic information system has provided an opportunity for detailed studies of land-use changes spanning two centuries. This article presents the first analyses of changes in individual land-use types and the typology of changes across two centuries.
Water is a basic element of the natural environment and the most important component in human water management. Rainfall is the main source of water. Therefore, determining the amount of ...precipitation reaching the ground using sensors is crucial information. Precise precipitation data are necessary for better modeling quality, as the observation data from weather stations are used as basics for weather model assessment. The authors compared precipitation from the Hellmann rain gauge (climatic precipitation, 1.0 m above the ground surface) measured throughout the year and the GGI 3000 rain gauge (actual precipitation on the ground level) measured from April to October. Measurement sequences from the years 2011-2020 were considered. The data for analysis were obtained from a weather station located in northern Poland. The authors analyzed the relationships between data from the two sensors. A comparative study showed that the measurements of actual precipitation are higher and there are strong relationships between actual and climatic rainfall (r = 0.99). Using the introduced coefficient it is possible to determine the full-year actual precipitation with high probability, taking into account the precipitation with a correction from the winter half-year and the actual precipitation from the summer half-year, which is of great importance in the calculation of the water balance.
This paper focuses on five culinary events on Slovenia’s Karst Plateau (Kras). It presents visitors’ motives for attending these events, their satisfaction with them, and their views on ...sustainability. These traditional culinary events, which take place in the same gastronomic region, differ in their scale, theme, character, and history. A survey was conducted among 244 visitors, approximately 50% of whom had a university degree. The most important motives for their visit include local cuisine; experiencing something new, different, or special; and exploring natural heritage and especially cultural heritage. Visitor satisfaction is the greatest at boutique culinary events, where the main theme is highlighted more strongly than at large-scale culinary events. The main challenge in terms of the sustainability of culinary events is public transport access to the venues. Significant progress would be made by reducing the amount of disposable packaging made from non-sustainable materials. The key to successful culinary events is high-quality services and ingredients, where the word local is key.
The escalating frequency and severity of climate-related hazards in the Mediterranean, particularly in the historic town of Piran, Slovenia, underscore the critical need for enhanced coastal flood ...prediction and efficient early warning systems. This study delves into the impediments of available coastal flood hazard maps and the existing early warning system, which rely on distant sensors, neglecting the town’s unique microclimate. The current study leverages the public registry maintained by the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (URSZR), an underutilized resource for generating comprehensive and accurate flooding maps for Piran. Here, we show that in the historic town of Piran, floodings reported through the national registry can be used to map coastal flooding by means of verification and validation of the georeferenced reports therein, with subsequent correlation analysis (hotspot, cluster, and elevation polygons) that show temporal and spatial patterns. The innovative approach adopted in this study aims to bolster the accuracy and reliability of flooding data, offering a more nuanced understanding of flood patterns (in Piran, but generally applicable where national or regional registries are available). The findings of this research illuminate the pressing need for localized field-report and sensor systems to enhance the precision of flood predictions. The study underscores the pivotal role of accurate, localized data in fortifying coastal towns against the escalating impacts of climate change, safeguarding both the inhabitants and the invaluable architectural heritage of historic areas.
This article examines the contemporary industrial semiotic landscape in the town of Velenje, Slovenia, to determine the (positive or negative) collective imaginaries and discourses about industry in ...the local community. To this end, the semiotic landscape is mapped for signs and symbols of past and present industry, 33 randomly selected short interviews are conducted to understand the residents’ attitudes towards industrial symbols and industrial development in general, and a content analysis of official strategic documents is conducted to determine how industry is represented by officials and whether there are efforts to reimage the town. We found that the industrial past and present are well represented by industrial symbols and are a matter of pride and collective identity for the residents. However, the industrial tradition is hardly represented in official documents: Influenced by the prevailing post-industrial discourses, local authorities have begun to construct new territorial identities in order to increase the town’s attractiveness and economic growth. Currently, both ideas seem to coexist in Velenje. We argue that industrial symbols can become a reference point to create an alternative perception of a modern consumer society based on past industrial values, such as collective well-being, solidarity, and equality.
Despite extensive research on the role arts districts play in the economic development of cities, little is known about the dynamics of social interactions within those districts and their impact on ...society. Drawing on 26 interviews with actors and stakeholders of arts districts in Ljubljana, this paper explores the role of arts districts in creating a just city. Four dimensions of such districts, which represent the meaningful themes that emerged from the data, are examined. The first dimension is the interrelationship of artists, cultural workers and activists. The second dimension encompasses mutual support and forms of self-governance, whereas the third dimension investigates the role arts districts play in the neighbourhood. The fourth dimension seeks to define the role of arts districts as part of urban development generally driven by capital. The results show that arts districts are important in the struggle for the right to the city. Actors from these districts are committed to addressing the causes of social inequality at their root via artist-led civic engagement activities.
Forest landscape in Slovenia is large and fragmented. The majority of owners (489,000) own only small forest land (less than 5 hectares), which is a result of intensive societal, political and ...economic changes that have occurred over the last two centuries. Land reforms, old-field succession, impartial inheritance and restitution after 1991 are the main factors that have produced a large number of owners. Since they mainly inherited the forest, they constitute a very broad and heterogeneous group. The small-scale owners, as a specific social group, lack the knowledge, skills and capacity for efficient forest management. They have changed their attitude toward their forest in recent decades and have mostly shifted from production to multi-objective orientation. A three-step approach for theoretical sampling was used to collect variety of qualitative data suitable for Glaser’s (1998) variation of grounded theory. The theory has emerged around three core categories: (1) land fragmentation and co-ownership and (2) demographics and (3) remoteness. We found that land fragmentation builds suspicion and distrust between owners and their willingness to cooperate. The disappearing group of residential owners, often affiliated with agriculture, holds emotional interest to manage the forest although income generation is insignificant. Remote owners are disassociated with their forest and carry almost no forestry activities.
Slovenia has 489,000 private forest owners which represents a challenge for a nation of only two million. 89 % of private owners own five or less hectares of forest or about 40 % of the entire ...forested area. Small size of forest properties is related with low interest for silvicultural works. In this research I examined the role of socio-geographic factors in managing private small-scale forest properies in Slovenia.
The tendency of artists and creative professionals, ranging from non-profit and for-profit firms, individual artists, and cultural participants, to cluster in a specific area is observed and ...discussed in a large body of literature. However, the ways these districts are internally organised has received much less attention. In Ljubljana, one can find five different arts districts that emerged via grass-roots and top-down planning approaches. The article explores their community through the concepts of self-governance, social inclusion, and the right to the city. Our examination of the collective activities in these districts shows that the naturally-occurring districts reflect a spatial political agenda. Those active in such areas are resistant to heteronomy, formal regulation and hierarchy while being engaged in activism, social justice advocacy and artistic self-expression. In contrast, a city designation allows less freedom in management and organisation of the space and does not conflict with authorities over control of the land. While both district types reveal a strong desire to constantly change and produce novelty, the naturally-occurring districts are evolving at a faster pace. The article highlights the value of self-organisation and informal networks in the construction and development of arts districts.
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