The book offers multi-layered responses to the scope and causes of spatial, as well as social, economic and physiognomic changes in the cultural landscape in Slovenian countryside. It presents the ...results of an interdisciplinary research approach to recognising spatial change and trends within a two-year research project entitled “The Transformation of the Landscape by Agricultural Modernisation and Changes in Settlement Patterns”, which was financed by the Slovenian Research Agency and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia within the target research programme Slovenian Competitiveness 2006–2013. Similar research was carried out in three pilot areas, selected because they captured a cross section of typical Slovenian landscape macro-units (Mediterranean, Dinaric, Alpine and Pannonian), while also covering the processes of intensification and marginalisation.
Agricultural terraces are the predominant landscape element in the Goriška brda region. These were once made by hand, but started being built mechanically after the Second World War. Reshaping slopes ...into terraces increases the amount of arable farmland. Farming, especially cultivation of vineyards and orchards, is still the most important industry in this region. The development of winegrowing has indelibly marked the image of the cultural landscape here.Terraces are mostly being abandoned in regions with market-oriented mechanized farming. Much of the formerly terraced land in upper Goriška brda is now completely overgrown or deteriorated. The former extent of these agricultural terraces cannot even be precisely determined using the land cadastre carried out under Emperor Franz I. In contrast, the agricultural terraces in lower Goriška brda are being constantly renovated.Maintenance of terraces prevents water loss and reduces soil erosion. When the shape of hillsides is changed, large quantities of soil are moved, and steep slopes are altered, this can cause land slippage and large areas can become unstable. Detailed study indicates that Goriška brda is exposed to a high risk of landslides.This study was carried out as part of Interreg project IIIB Alpine Space, titled “The Terraced Landscapes of the Alpine Arc” (ALPTER).
Slovenia boasts a great diversity of all natural factors. As a result, many different types of cultural landscape have developed in Slovenia's very small area. The aims of this book are to obtain a ...comprehensive picture of Slovenia's cultural landscapes~to define and assess their elements, relationships, and the correlations between them~to make an historical survey of landscape shaping~and to delineate and analyze current processes and trends that are changing the rural landscapes faster than ever before. An important part of the book is to classify landscapes at the national level. The classification model is based on a hierarchical concept with eight levels of division. More than 300 variations were defined at the lowest level, and by using a synthesis approach, twenty typological groups were created. Later, nine case studies were analyzed to determine which elements, physical and human, were of vital importance for the examined landscape types. The results show the importance of natural elements, particularly in less favourable areas. Natural elements have direct and indirect impacts on the human elements, but the importance of political and administrative decisions are also significant.
Preučevanje naravnih nesreč je v zadnjih desetletjih eden najpomembnejših vidikov aplikacije fizične geografije v Sloveniji. Ogroženost zaradi tovrstnih naravnih dogodkov je namreč na različne načine ...prisotna v vsaki kulturni pokrajini, in sicer kot njihovi neposredni učinki in konkretni načini varovanja pred njimi, kot izogibanje ogroženim območjem in tudi kot napačni posegi v prostor. Vse to so pomembne geografske teme, s katerimi se bo morala geografija v prihodnje še intenzivneje ukvarjati, poleg tega pa bo potrebno upoštevati tudi subjektivno zaznavanje ogroženosti zaradi naravnih nesreč kot pomembno izhodišče nadaljnjih posegov v ogrožena območja, na katerih delujejo potencialno škodljivi ali nevarni naravni procesi.