Boštjan Cotič

Ljubljana was the first post-socialist city awarded with the title European Green Capital. The title awarded by the European Commission is given to a city that is achieving high environmental standards, is setting ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development, and can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practices to all other European cities. The article is based on a hypothesis that at the moment when Ljubljana applied for (and was awarded) the European Green Capital title, it had strong strategic spatial planning and successful territorial governance, as well as the interweaving of both. To prove the hypothesis, the timetable and characteristics of the strategic spatial planning and territorial governance in Ljubljana are presented in this article and critically evaluated. Critical evaluation and analyses are also assessed using a qualitative research method, i.e., semi-structured in-depth interviews among experts from four professional fields including spatial planning, urbanism, architecture, and management. The results confirmed the hypothesis: Ljubljana’s sustainability-oriented strategic spatial plan prepared by a variety of stakeholders, experts, and citizens, as well as the effective governance system established by the mayor, a manager by profession, were two factors that coincided at a crucial moment. This was recognized by the European Commission and Ljubljana was awarded a prestigious title. Ljubljana can therefore serve as an excellent sustainable example for other post-socialist cities in terms of strategic spatial planning and governance.

The paper compares methods and results concerning the two most recent inventories of brownfield sites in Slovenia: while the MOP inventory focuses more on spatial planning issues, the MGRT inventory concentrates more on economic issues....

Kranj is the third biggest municipality in Slovenia, by number of inhabitants. It was a highly industrialised city before the 1990s. Today it still has major electronics, rubber and other manufacturers, but because of the change of economic system, globalisation and the independence of Slovenia in 1991, many factories went bankrupt, leaving a high number of brownfield sites behind. Despite existing brownfields, many new developments in the last 25 years were built on greenfield sites. Recent economic growth in Slovenia is mainly based on competitive export-oriented industries and their need to expand places additional pressure on soil sealing. This paper focuses on the potentials of industrial symbiosis in the City of Kranj in brownfields regeneration, mainly by improving the attractiveness of (partly) abandoned former industrial sites. Eco-industrial parks and industrial symbiosis are important elements of the new green (circular) economy, by reducing the need for raw materials, energy and water in industrial processes, but by building them in greenfield areas, we neglect the importance of land and soil as a very limited natural resource. In 2015, the City of Kranj adopted its Sustainable Urban Strategy 2030 and many of its objectives could be achieved through the concept of industrial symbiosis. Also, in 2017, a new inventory of brownfield sites was made, based on the standardised methodology for the whole Slovenia. This paper examines the potentials to establish industrial symbiosis by analysing three strategic documents. The benefits of industrial symbiosis can be seen for both industry seeking new development sites and the municipality, which aims to reduce soil sealing through brownfields reactivation.